VTDigger posts regular coronavirus updates on this page. You can also subscribe here for daily coronavirus news. Please send your Covid-19 questions to coronavirus@vtdigger.org
The Vermont Department of Public Service is crafting an emergency Covid-19 broadband plan that, if enacted, would provide internet connection to all Vermont residents at a cost ranging from $85 million to $293 million.
The Covid-19 crisis has highlighted internet service gaps in Vermont, as some rural students have struggled to take part in remote learning, employees have been required to work from home, and doctors offer more treatment through telehealth services.
Under pressure heightened by the pandemic, lawmakers and state officials have been looking to federal funding — including a $1.25 billion grant the state has received to cover costs related to the Covid-19 pandemic— and considering how to quickly build out broadband.
Officials with DPS told lawmakers Tuesday that they were writing the emergency plan, which will be published in full on May 5.
According to an outline presented by DPS officials, the plan “will propose measures that, if fully funded, will achieve universal service and bring broadband capable networks to students, remote workers, teachers, patients, and healthcare workers.”
Under the plan, the state would provide internet providers with subsidies to build out broadband to homes that lack connection, or have poor service. The department estimates it would benefit about 69,000 Vermonters.
Carriers would vie for subsidies during an auction process that could be held as early as October. All towns would be included in the auction process.
The cost of the project ranges because DPS expects providers would ask for different subsidy prices at auction, and that the state would offer both grants and loans to carriers building out broadband.
DPS officials told the Senate Finance Committee the $1.25 billion federal Covid-19 aid could be a possible source of funding for the plan.
“If we were able to get this down to the lower end range of $89 million, we could take something like 7 or 8% of our $1.25 billion and have broadband throughout the state?” asked Sen. Michael Sirotkin, D-Chittenden, a member of the committee.
“Yes, assuming you can get that money out the door within the time constraints,” said Clay Purvis, who heads DPS’s telecommunications division.
June Tierney, the commissioner of the department, said that she couldn’t speak for Gov. Phil Scott, but said she believed broadband build-out would be a good use of some of those federal dollars.
“What you said, senator, is what my preferred solution would be if I had free rein of the money,” Tierney said, referring to Sirotkin’s question.
However, federal guidelines require that those CARES Act dollars be spent by the end of 2020, and, according to Purvis, the broadband build-out could take three to five years.
But DPS pitched the plan expecting that even more broadband funding for states could soon be available in the wake of Covid-19. And the legislature’s Legislative Council outlined an array of other possible federal funding sources for state broadband build-out this week.
On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., announced he had signed onto a plan with Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to invest more than $80 billion into broadband infrastructure over the next five years.
“With millions of people required to stay home and students across the country learning from home, this pandemic has sharpened the digital divide that exists across America,” Welch said.
“We need to act now to close this divide and connect all Americans with high-speed, affordable broadband.”
Providers who receive state subsidies under the DPS plan will be required to connect all households in a given area that either lack internet service or have broadband speeds viewed as too slow.
Purvis said that the department worries about some towns being “left behind,” and is considering requirements for “bidders to have to take towns together in larger groups.”
The department said it would like to use existing programs including the state’s Connectivity Initiative and or the Vermont Economic Development Authority, which provides loans to state businesses, to get the funding to internet carriers.
The Connectivity Initiative awards grants to internet providers who agree to expand service to areas where there are not otherwise financial incentives to do so.
According to an outline of the plan, communications union districts (CUDs), community-owned fiber optic networks that serve multiple towns, would have the authority over the grants in the regions that they serve.
The department has also released a map detailing what it anticipates it will cost the state to build out broadband in each Vermont town.
The costs vary widely.
For example, DPS estimates that in South Hero, to connect all of the homes that lack service, or have poor internet connection the state would need to spend $120,000. In Cambridge, the cost is estimated at $5.5 million.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Joint Fiscal office outlined possible federal funding sources for broadband build-out. It was actually the legislature’s Legislative Council.
Get the latest statistics and live updates on our coronavirus page.
Sign up for our coronavirus email list.
Tell us your story or give feedback at coronavirus@vtdigger.org.
Support our nonprofit journalism with a donation.
