Bill to increase ConnectME funding draws widespread support

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    AUGUSTA — In the scheme of things, $5 million is a drop in the bucket of Maine’s $8 billion budget.
    But a public hearing on a bill that would increase funding for the ConnectME Authority from $1 million to $5 million a year to help expand high-speed Internet to underserved areas drew a standing-room only crowd at an April 2 public hearing.
    LD 826 was introduced by Rep. Robert Saucier of Presque Isle, who urged the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee to support the measure. “There are people paying huge sums of money for smartphones to create their own hot spots so they can have Internet access,” Saucier said. “People are even deciding where they want to live in Maine based on the availability of the Internet.”

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    EUT COMMITTEE — Three Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee members listen to testimony at an April 2 public hearing. Pictured, from left, are Rep. Roberta Beavers of South Berwick, Rep. Norman Higgins of Dover-Foxcroft and Rep. Deane Rykerson of Kittery Point.

    The funding mechanism for ConnectME is a one-quarter of 1 percent surcharge on all communications, video and Internet service bills. Saucier’s bill would increase the amount levied to 1.25 percent.
    While the proposal drew widespread support at the hearing, some who testified said that they resent the fact that the taxes on their telephone and cable TV service aren’t helping those who need it. “For years, I’ve been paying into a fund that allows my neighbors to enjoy high speed Internet. I am tired of being so generous,” said Shelly Mountain of Mapleton.
    Gail Maynard of Orchard Hills Farm in Woodland said that direct farm-to-consumer sales via the Internet are one of the fastest growing businesses in Maine.
      But she said that that due to her location, she’s living in a “technological backwater. We’ve done our research. We know where our markets are. But we can’t get there from here. There is no one to go the ‘last mile’ for us.”

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    MAKING HIS CASE — Rep. Robert Saucier of Presque Isle addresses the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee on LD 826, a bill he sponsored to increase funding for the ConnectME authority.

    Jim Gerritson of Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater started a mail order business to sell seed potatoes 26 years ago. “Today, 75 percent of our orders come in over the Internet,” he told the committee. “Ten years ago, we switched from dial-up to a microwave wireless signal. While it was an improvement over dial-up, it has become unreliable.” In addition to the mail orders, he emails a newsletter to 12,000 customers.
    FairPoint has installed a fiber optic line “3,200 feet away from our office. They’ve offered us 10 megabits service. But we can’t afford the $12,000 last-mile installation fee,” Gerritson said.
    Rep. Norman Higgins of Dover-Foxcroft noted that the ConnectME standard for high-speed Internet connection was recently upped from 1.5 megabits per second to 10 megabits. “So that has changed the definition of ‘underserved’ quite a bit,” said Higgins. “This was a good move, but it also creates another level of challenge.”
    Under the old definition, 6 percent of the state was underserved; with the new guidelines, an estimated 82 percent would meet the criteria.
    Don Flewelling of Pioneer Broadband of Houlton said that his company has been fortunate enough to receive 36 ConnectME grants to provide high-speed Internet to areas where no broadband had existed. “The authority should try to leverage federal funds to provide last-mile and middle-mile infrastructure,” Flewelling said.
    In the past, federal funds were used for mapping and studies, he added. “But the time has passed for that. It’s time to build stuff,” he said. “The digital divide is very real.”
    LD 826 is one of 35 Internet-related bills introduced during the current session of the legislature, which Higgins said does not surprise him.
    The Dover-Foxcroft Republican is the lead sponsor of LD 465 which would eliminate the broadband sustainability fee of $2 or $3 per mile of federally supported “dark” or dormant fiber that is purchased or leased by an entity for expansion into unserved or underserved areas.
    Higgins said that the bill is counterproductive because it hasn’t encouraged any local companies to access it. He once described the situation as like “laying a water line and not running any water through it.”
    Information and the status on all bills introduced in the current session can be accessed at http://legislature.maine.gov.

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    OFF THE BEATEN PATH — Gail Maynard of Woodland told the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee that not being able to get high-speed Internet to her farm is causing financial hardship.