By BRUCE SCHREINER, Related Press
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday introduced an preliminary spherical of $203 million in investments to broaden broadband service as a part of an bold effort to shut Kentucky’s digital divide.
The investments shall be break up into 46 grant awards to 12 web service suppliers and native governments spanning greater than 30 counties. The infusion will ship dependable web to greater than 34,000 Kentucky households and companies, the governor stated. Beshear stated he thinks it ranks because the “single-largest provision of funding” for high-speed web in Kentucky historical past.
“Everyone wants it,” he informed a information convention. “Everyone deserves to have entry to it.”
The investments embrace $89.1 million from the state’s share of federal pandemic help that state lawmakers earmarked for broadband growth, Beshear stated. Grant recipients pledged to match the state’s contributions, elevating whole investments past $203 million.
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“Excessive-speed, dependable web is not only the infrastructure of the longer term, it’s the mandatory infrastructure proper now,” the governor stated. “It’s simply as vital as roads, bridges. And right this moment is a key a part of our plan to construct a greater Kentucky. And it will likely be important to the success of our state’s financial system and to future job creation.”
State Finances Director John Hicks referred to as it the “first chapter of many chapters” because the state distributes funding to broaden broadband service to unserved and underserved areas.
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