Mills makes push for another $30 million for broadband internet in Maine Weak or nonexistent internet connectivity, a longstanding problem in rural Maine, has been exacerbated during the pandemic as workers, businesses, students and families struggle to stay connected. Share AUGUSTA — Gov. Janet Mills has proposed borrowing another $30 million to help expand broadband in rural parts of Maine, where COVID-19 restrictions have exposed how the limited internet connectivity has compounded the pandemic’s negative impacts on learning and the economy. In her state of the budget address Tuesday, Mills called high-speed internet “as fundamental as electricity, heat, and water,” and said everybody in Maine has a story about slow or nonexistent internet access.