Wyoming has been granted $348 million for the development of broadband service across the state. The money comes from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program of the Biden-Harris Internet For All Plan. The state has been top in the nation for internet connectivity within schools for years, which is no small feat given the number of rural schools across Wyoming. However, access and speeds are still lacking for towns and businesses.
The Wyoming Broadband Office came into existence under the Wyoming Business Council through the Economically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming Initiative (ENDOW) in 2018. A separate advisory council was set up as well, referred to as the Broadband Advisory Council. These administrative groups were charged with researching, promoting, and advising on Wyoming's push to expand broadband services across the state.
One of those forms of research has been figuring out who does and does not have internet service, followed by who has sufficiently speedy internet and who doesn't.
"We have been working on that for several months, almost a year, to develop a map. So we do know where there are unserved areas of Wyoming," Elaina Zempel, head of the Wyoming Broadband Office, said.
The Wyoming Broadband Office has the state divided into three categories: unserved, underserved, and served areas. The Office’s long term goals are to bring 120 megabytes per second or higher download speeds to unserved and underserved areas. According to Zempel, it’s a high but necessary standard as more industries incorporate remote work or applications that require larger downloads or uploads of data.
The task won't be easy, building across open ranges or dense mountains is a massive undertaking. Even more so when Wyoming's winter season lasts significantly longer than most states. And while there are service providers willing to build it, the low population in many areas makes attracting those service providers a marketplace challenge.
"It is harder to put that in because you do not have the population density to [create] cash flow," Zempel said.
To cover that gap, Wyoming is utilizing a number of investment resources. The State of Wyoming set aside $10 million in funds for the Broadband Advisory Council in 2018. The United States Treasury also has a Capital Project fund that has granted Wyoming $70.5 million. Service providers began applying last week to receive those funds for internet infrastructure projects. The United States Department of Agriculture also invests in and works with states like Wyoming through a program called the ReConnect Loan and Grant Program. The purpose of the program, much like the $348 million from the BEAD fund, is to expand connectivity to rural and previously underserved areas. However, no amount of funding will expedite this process.
"It's a process that has public input requirements. A process that has application requirements, verification requirements, and a number of things to put everything in order,” she said. “This is an unprecedented amount of money that needs to go through some type of an application process or verification process. And I think that's why it is taking so long to maneuver through this."
Despite lengthy projects, costly expansion, and large goals, the Wyoming Broadband Office believes the end result will be beneficial for industry and individuals alike. Having high-speed connectivity next to wide-open space makes working in Wyoming a far more attractive option.
However, Zempel believes this can impact more than just potential employees and employers. It is also about keeping another category of people here: Wyoming's kids.
"I think it allows some of Wyoming to come back here. And that is something that we've always talked about in economic development, is we wanted our kids to be able to stay in the state if they wanted to. And I think this is an option for that," she said.
Zempel also points out that while Wyoming strives to expand broadband services as much as possible, there are some people who just won't want that. Zempel believes the desire to be unconnected is just part of Wyoming.
"I don't think we will reach 100 percent. But it'll be in the high 90 percent,” she said. “Different technologies and development technologies allow us to get in further, but there's always a set of folks that do not want to be reached, that really, truly want to unplug. And that is a portion of our population that we need to respect too."
