A meeting was held Monday at Public Library of Enid and Garfield County, with several other meetings taking place throughout the state in the coming days.
House Bill 3363, which was signed into law in May 2022, established Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board, Oklahoma Broadband Office and Oklahoma Broadband Expansion Council. Oklahoma Broadband Office had received $558,209,835 by December in grant funding with the expectation of receiving another $1 billion in funding.
In 2021, it was determined that 14 counties in the state have low adoption and low availability potential for high-speed internet, meaning those locations not only had the least availability to broadband access but also are the most expensive and challenging to serve. It also was determined in 2021 that 18% of the households in the state lack a broadband subscription, which is up to 50% in smaller, rural communities.
There are two plans, the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment plan, and the Digital Equity Act, which are due this year. BEAD is due in August and DEA is due in November. BEAD prioritizes helping areas that have no internet access or access under 25/3 Mpbs and underserved locations. DEA provides funding to establish three grant programs that promote digital equity and inclusion.
State Sen. Roland Pederson, R-Burlington, attended Monday's meeting and said there are rural areas in his district that he is pleased have been able to secure reliable internet access.
"Some of the rural areas, I don't know how they got it, I know some of the smaller phone companies out that way, there were some grants they could get and they made efforts early on," Pederson said. "I was always surprised at some of the smaller towns, and even Enid, that they had worse access than what we did where I live."
He said he doesn't hear from too many constituents about broadband access, partially due to an older population that may not feel the need for internet access. He said with OBO conducting its community meetings, it is an important aspect of data gathering in what will be a massive endeavor in the state.
"It's essential coming up. I think it will be just like electricity, it's the new electricity, I think," Pederson said. "The fact that in the Legislature, we really tried to make it accessible within 2028. We've been very emphatic that we want that. Mike Sanders (Oklahoma Broadband Office director) is getting all that set up, and he's got a lot of pressure on him to get it done. That's always been a priority the last three or four years that I've been in the Legislature, especially trying to get broadband, but it's just so expensive."
Michelle Currier, of the company Connected Nation, which is working with states to enact broadband access plans, said the process for installing high-speed internet across the state is similar to the efforts required for laying of electrical lines and the prioritizing of funding when situations are unique depending on the area. She said the data being gathered is not as easy to acquire as one would think, and being able to gather as much as possible provides the most accurate plan for moving forward.
"It's essential. The land topography is so unique to each area, the demographics of the people living in the communities are so different and the needs of those people are so different," she said. "And truly understanding why and what people are needing when it comes to information, is just unique. So you really have to go out and try to access and assess as much as you can with each location."
© 2023 the Enid News & Eagle (Enid, Okla.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
