By The Herald Editorial Board
Most of us enjoy fast and reliable broadband internet service at the touch of our phones, tablets or TVs. It’s become another utility — and another monthly bill — like our electric service, water, sewer and natural gas.
But for millions of Americans — and hundreds of thousands in Washington state who live in rural areas and on tribal lands — it’s a utility that stops well short of their neighborhood, much less their homes. The farther one gets from urban and suburban areas — where internet customers are concentrated and getting service to them is more cost-effective for internet providers — the less likely that service is available at the speeds that the Federal Communications Commission has set as a standard: 25 megabits per second.
The FCC, in its 2018 broadband deployment report, estimates that while about 92 percent of Americans have internet access at that speed — up from 81 percent in 2012 — more than 24 million Americans, mostly in rural and tribal areas, still lack that service. In Washington state at least 200,000 do not have access to broadband internet, according to a 2016 FCC report, more than 150,000 are those who live on tribal lands.
In all senses of the word, this is a utility. Especially for those in rural areas who are already at a distance from city services, broadband is about more than binging on Netflix. This is a service that is important to local businesses, telecommuters, public school and college students, and patients who are increasingly using telemedicine to connect with their doctors and other health professionals.
While the connection gap has narrowed, too many remain without service, and progress to reach them has slowed; the 2018 FCC report found that the pace of connection was three times slower after 2014 than in the two years previous.
Unsatisfied with the pace of connection, some communities are working to set up their own internet service. Notably in Snohomish County, the Darrington Internet Users Association formed in 2017 and is working with the FCC to bring high-speed service to Arlington Heights, Darrington and Sauk-Suiattle communities.
Legislation has now advanced in both the state House and Senate that could assist in that effort and others like it, including state grants and loans and new flexibility for port and public utility districts to facilitate service.
The bills, House Bill 1498 and Senate Bill 5511, have passed their respective chambers and are now being reconciled before being sent to the governor for his signature.
The legislation would create a statewide broadband office; require the state Public Works Board to set up and administer competitive grants and loans; authorize public utility districts to temporarily provide retail internet services in the absence of commercial service; and authorize port districts to provide wholesale service outside of district borders.
The legislation also sets some benchmarks: By 2024, all state businesses and residences are to have access to broadband service of at least 25 megabits per second; by 2026, service of at least 1 gigabit per second must be available at “anchor institutions” such as schools, hospitals, libraries and government offices; and by 2028, all businesses and residences would have to have access of at least 150 megabits per second.
While the votes in both chambers were nearly unanimous — 47-0 in the Senate and 95-1 in the House — the larger debate may come on funding. Gov. Jay Inslee, who requested the legislation, allocated $25 million in his proposed budget for the effort, in particular for the grants and loans that would be administered by the Public Works Board.
Administrative assistance and financial help for nonprofit organizations and public-private partnerships can help meet the legislation’s ambitious goals. And that funding should be seen as an investment in our state’s rural areas that will provide economic development, enhanced educational opportunities, improved health care and communication that delivers on the promise of the internet for everyone.
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