Our View: Broadband — at the speed of governmental bureaucracy

Published 5:31 pm Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Broadband is coming to Limestone County … again. You’ve heard that line a million times.

It’s frustrating to hear about all the government funding for broadband and still not know when it’s going to reach your home. As with all things that are done with government funding, seeing the change is like watching paint dry. You have no idea how long it’s going to take, and you wait so long it’s hard to tell if any progress is being made at all.

In January, the Alabama legislature approved part of the money from the American Rescue Plan Act to be used for funding broadband in the state. It wasn’t until March that the governor announced that the $276 million in funds had been transferred to the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. From that department, the state was able to create grant programs to expand access to areas of the state in need of high-speed internet.

What came next? The ADECA created grants alongside the Alabama Digital Expansion Authority, and those programs required grant plans to be approved by the U.S. Treasury Department, since funding from the American Rescue Plan came from the Capital Projects Fund. We know reading this is probably making your eyes flutter shut, but stick it out.

Now, the government doesn’t release that grant money to just anyone. There’s an application process. The two grants on ADECA’s website are the Middle-Mile Network Grant Program (that Gov. Ivey announced funding for on Tuesday) and the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Fund (that had its own funding announcement in August).

So, funding through these projects have both been announced — but you don’t care about the money, not really. You still want to know when you’re going to see your speeds actually improve.

The good news is now that it’s been designated to groups that can actually install these services, the wheel keeps turning. The bad news is, it just might not be moving much faster.

In the governor’s announcement for the Middle-Mile Network on Tuesday, the Fiber Utility Network said the project is aiming for a 3-year period. North Alabama is a part of the eight electric cooperatives working with the Fiber Utility Network to connect customers with the more than $82 million they were awarded.

Unfortunately, The News Courier cannot predict the future for where and when this project will help our readers. But the point here: Bear with us. We hear your complaints, and we know know these services are crucial, especially in Limestone’s rural areas. We will work to get answers about how this money is actually being spent to help you. We haven’t stopped tracking it since it’s designation in January — and we’ll follow the dollars until they reach your home.