Dec 28, 2020 | STATESCOOP
A broadband advisory board created last month by Gov. Jared Polis could improve access to high-speed internet for residents during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
The Colorado Broadband Advisory Board is tasked with offering broadband policy recommendations to state lawmakers and streamlining broadband expansion projects that involve state agencies. Polis said the work is especially needed as more residents depend on the internet to remotely access their health care, work and education all needs that will persist, though in lesser degrees, after the health crisis has ended.
The new board, comprised of state officials from Colorado’s economic, regulatory and transportation departments, as well as Tony Neal-Graves, the executive director of the Colorado Broadband Office, will gauge Coloradans’ concerns about broadband access and direct agencies and private-sector partners on where to send resources so that they’re effecti
Wed, Dec 16th 2020 12:00pm
Anna Read
Although the digital divide didn’t start with COVID-19, the pandemic has put into stark relief the need to bridge this divide once and for all. The solution providing tens of millions of Americans with high-speed, reliable broadband might seem like a daunting task. But our research has found that Colorado and other states are leading the way in connecting communities to high-speed, reliable internet.
The digital divide is a costly challenge to solve: A 2017 report from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) found that 14% of residential and small and medium-sized businesses lacked access to broadband and that it would cost $40 billion to get fiber optic cable which carries broadband signals to 98% of those premises. It would cost another $40 billion to serve the last 2 percent.