PCEDC keynote speaker cites importance of broadband in rural areas

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Susan Corbett of Jonesport recalled her efforts to convince lobstermen to report landings and other data to the Department of Marine Resources by computer. “The usual response was ‘I still use a No. 2 pencil,’” she said.

Corbett

    But the founder and CEO of Axiom Technologies persisted; and with funding from a federal grant and private sources, developed MAP Online, a user-friendly data collection system for lobster harvesters.
    Corbett founded Axiom in 2005 when only two out of 48 towns in Washington County had broadband service. “When I first moved up here, I was paying $750 a month for a dedicated T-1 line,” she told the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council at its annual meeting last week.
    Today, Axiom, headquartered in Machias, is a full-service tech firm that has sparked the growth of wireless Internet with 90 access points in Washington County in addition to DSL and fiber networks. “But it’s still difficult to get service to some areas where we need it,” she said.
    Corbett said that through education and technology, “We can change the economic status of a region. We see this in everything we do, every business we enter and every person we meet.”
    While working with other Internet providers around the state, Corbett said she came up with several “action items — including finding solutions for that last mile of broadband connectivity.” She added that while 93 percent of all Maine households are in a market served by broadband, “That leaves 40,000 homes without it.”
    Axiom is also working on a pilot project involving television “white space,” a frequency spectrum that’s not being used anymore because of conversion to digital broadcasting. “It’s expensive right now and the capacity is limited,” she explained. “But it’s another tool in the box.”
    Corbett said that the United States is 15th in broadband usage in the world and Maine ranks 43rd in the nation. In addition, 59 percent of Maine businesses don’t have a website and 55 percent of companies surveyed said “they didn’t see any value in the Internet,” Corbett said.
    Getting low-cost computers into the hands of first-time users is one way to change that way of thinking, she said. A Belfast firm — PCs for Maine — refurbishes computers that reach their “end of life” at larger corporations and sells them “very reasonably,” Corbett said.
    Several basic computer classes have been set up in numerous locations in Washington County, thanks to some additional grants and support from local businesses. “How we teach is just as important as what we teach,” Corbett emphasized.
    Axiom also developed an online health care program through videoconferencing with Down East Community Hospital. “For these students, their dream was to become a nurse. But there was no way they could afford to travel outside of Washington County,” she said. “So we were able to provide this service right in our backyard.”
    A task force created by Gov. Paul LePage issued a report — “Broadband: The Road to Maine’s Future” — in December 2013 that also emphasized the need to boost the state’s high-speed Internet connection. Among its recommendations:
    Pass a bill providing a three-year tax credit for all Maine small and medium businesses for Internet-related staff training and marketing expenditures.
    Apply for federal waivers that would allow the reimbursement of new in-home technologies in order to reduce the proportion of elderly on MaineCare receiving long-term care in institutions.
    Make the University of Maine a national model for integrating classroom and online learning.
    Corbett said that while “one size doesn’t fit all,” some lessons she learned in Jonesport and Machias could easily be adapted locally. “Become an advocate,” she urged. “County by county, we need to get it done. There are no boundaries.”