Broadband Infrastructure
Rural communities are largely at the mercy of predominately private sector providers that claim either that they are providing the necessary broadband, or that deployment does not fit their cost model. Communities have been willing to invest their own financial and political capital to deploy fiber networks by creating their own entities or by incentivizing willing providers with traditional economic development tools. Work through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) to access resources through the Next Level Connections Broadband Grant Program. Engage in purposeful discussions with the existing broad-band providers in the county. If this has happened, discussions need to continue. Even though the state has available funds to assist with deployment, the local provider community needs to be part of the discussion early in the process before alternative actions may be considered. Create a task force or working group of the high-demand broadband users in the county, such as manufacturers, large service businesses, schools, and farmers to document their current and future needs, and any difficulties with connectivity in the past several years. Using this group (and their experts) as the broadband action group will be useful as the county strives to get connected.
