“The biggest complaint I have is the speed of the Internet,” said Laurel County Judge Executive David Westerfield.
“It seems like it’s more of the outlying areas,” he explained on who had expressed their concern the most.
Westerfield’s counterparts in Knox County, Judge Executive Mike Mitchell, and in Whitley County, Judge Executive Pat White Jr., have said they too have heard from frustrated citizens unable to access the Internet and that typically comes from those who live in more rural, sparsely-populated areas of their respective counties.
“We’re aware of the need for broadband expansion,” said Mitchell, who also added that he had been in contact with the offices of Congressman Hal Rogers and Senator Mitch McConnell in an attempt to quicken the pace at which Internet service could be provided to those individuals. “They both assured me that they’re dedicating times and resources to see if they could expedite it in anyway.”
While the state waits for KentuckyWired to inch towards completion, Mitchell said that he had been in contact with the local electric cooperative who said they had plans on working with one local Internet service provider in expanding their services.
“I wish KentuckyWired was further along than what it is, because whenever it does get in play, it’s going to really have an impact here too that will benefit everyone,” commented Mitchell. “It’s just unfortunate they’re not further along. It’s a good concept.”
Mitchell also said that he believed that once the KentuckyWired project was finished, local Internet service providers would be incentivized to connect to the 3,000+ mile network being laid out by the state.
“It will enable them to expand out at a good price,” he said on local Internet service providers. “And anything that we can do that’s within our means as far as county government, fiscal court, we’ll do anything we can to assist in that and promote it.”
Westerfield said that he too was waiting for the completion of the project, stating that communication between he and officials from the state level had been less consistent due to the pandemic.
“I don’t know when it’s going to be here, when it’s going to be accessible," Westerfield said.
KentuckyWired officials have said that once the project is completed, it falls on local Internet service providers and communities to connect to the “interstate-like” network and expand their services throughout Kentucky’s counties, and even suggested that the network could allow for some local governments to establish municipal Internet service providers.
Judge White said that those discussions have not taken place in Whitley County, a county in which he says a majority of its population already receives high-speed Internet.
“I really don’t think there are any plans for a municipal service provider because we have too much of the county that is already served,” White explained. “You have to duplicate the wire run to be able to do that, or try to buy the existing business. So when you’re talking about a county that’s probably got 75 percent or 70 percent high-speed Internet access, you would be overlapping service for that 70 or 75 percent.”
White says that he has instead worked with existing companies in trying to improve service for those who need it.
“That’s been more of my focus the last little bit, rather than trying to start all over from new,” he said. “I’ve talked to some state representatives, our state representative about how we could try to create funding models to help cable companies get low-interest loans or some other incentive to be able to reach out to people in those more sparsely populated areas or unserved areas.”
White said that he has even worked with one Whitely County neighborhood who raised the money themselves to have the cable needed extended throughout their community and that he has also made an attempt to make his constituents aware of alternatives available.
White mentioned wireless systems as an alternative and said he believed they would be the biggest competition to cable Internet over the next decade.
“You’ve got numerous cellphone towers being built throughout east Kentucky and in Whitley County and surrounding counties right now,” he said. “Some have came on and are operational right now. Of course, when you get high speed Internet via your phone, then there’s other methods of making that available for home use as well through those same networks.”
Judge White said he and other county officials had worked with local companies for years in trying to expand cellphone coverage throughout Whitley County.
“The plans that I’ve heard is that over the next five or six years, that we’re going to have cellphone service pretty much throughout the county. 4G cellphone service is pretty good Internet, and as they’re moving into 5G systems, it’s going to be even better,” said White. “As those networks are built and expanded and growing, accessibility for people is going to be building and expanding and growing as well.
“We’re hopeful to see all of those different avenues create a competitive environment where people can get the best service at an affordable price and service that they can depend on.”
The Times-Tribune is taking an in-depth look at how people in southeast Kentucky are working to close the connectivity gap. This open-ended series will explore what issues are present when Internet is not accessible and who is working to solve these issues.
©2020 The Times-Tribune, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
