A just-announced million-dollar federal grant will help Kentucky plan and administer additional broadband wiring. So said Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman. The governor and legislature got together on a $300 million fund with monies earmarked to address connectivity needs. “It’s a huge amount of money to make sure that we can increase broadband, but we also have to have funds to make sure that we can take those plans and bring them to life and that’s essentially what this grant is for,” said Coleman
Coleman said she’s seen the lack of broadband impact education where students have devices but no connectivity at home. While there have been legislative concerns for years about money spent and the pace of wiring, Coleman said the Broadband Deployment Fund is important. Still, setting a target date to see the entire Commonwealth fully wired is difficult. “I know that we’ve been talking a lot about kind of putting this plan together and we’re really looking at the big picture right now and so, I would say that we’re not ready to put a specific date on it just yet. But, like I said, with our priority and our investment, we’re closer than we’ve ever been,” explained Coleman.
Coleman noted the availability of high-speed internet service is a fundamental right. The lieutenant governor added giving a regulatory blessing to electric cooperatives to get into the initiative should also bolster efforts to see rural communities wired.
