As our state outlines its initial plan to allocate federal broadband expansion funds, we must be diligent in identifying which Mainers have the greatest need and prioritizing funding towards these regions first.

In the initial draft Broadband Action Plan provided by the Maine Connectivity Authority, there are contradictory claims regarding which regions of our state lack broadband access, which could undermine an effective allocation of BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment) funding and in turn cause truly unserved Mainers to be left behind.

For example, the plan says that “76% of Mainers do not (have broadband service)” and that “42,000 Mainers have no internet service at all.” Census data states that 86% of Maine households have a broadband subscription. Given the state’s population figure, estimating that “42,000 Mainers” are unserved means that about 3% of Mainers are unserved, not 76%.

Overestimating the “unserved figure” could lead to finite dollars being used to build duplicative infrastructure in areas that already have access, causing funds to be exhausted before we expand access to truly unserved areas. If federal grants are available to regions other than very rural ones that have otherwise been too costly to build to, providers will simply choose to build in areas that are easier and most cost effective, leaving truly unserved Mainers left waiting for access.

This opportunity is too important to rural Mainers to get wrong. Luckily, we are still early in forming our state’s action plan, so there is still time to get it right.

Sen. Russell Black, Wilton