Imagine that 100 % of the people in Nebraska have broadband internet access available to them! No way you say? You’re wrong. It’s here and in a state that I’d bet you wouldn’t think it. This is a long post but I think this is fascinating. To get to the 100 % you have to figure in satellite but without it this document says that 57 % of rural Nebraska has it. That’s up 15 % in just one year! This information was put out by University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension. I have to believe without doing some research that you’ll find initiatives like this across the country. It’s a “wired” world folks. By that I mean connected to the internet. Resistance is futile.
Broadband coverage in Nebraska becoming more broad – Rural areas see highest growth
By Eric Carstenson, President, Nebraska Telecommunications Association
Nebraska’s privately owned telecommunications companies continued their rapid deployment of broadband across Nebraska in the past year with the highest percentage of growth coming to rural areas of the state. Eighty-two private businesses in Nebraska now provide local loop Broadband Access transport. The current deployment places Nebraska as a leading state – if not the leader – in the percentage of a state’s population with the availability to connect to a Broadband Internet service. The type of transport provided by these 82 two companies in decreasing order is: DSL (Digital Subscriber Loop on fiber and or copper), wireless, cable modems and fiber to the (home) premises.
The percentage of availability of Broadband Internet Transport for the entire population of the state moved from 85 percent in the 2004 survey done by the Nebraska Information Network to 90 percent in the recently completed survey performed by the Nebraska Information Network (NIN).
Rural access grew to 57 percent from the 42 percent figure in early 2004 – a 15 percent increase in just one year. “Rural” is defined as anyone living outside the city limits of any size community. This shows that private companies are investing a great deal in building rural networks to being the technology capabilities necessary for economic growth and meeting consumer needs. The urban access to broadband was 99.3 percent. “Urban” is defined in the NIN survey as anyone living within the city limits of any size community.
The largest community or population center in Nebraska, as defined by the census bureau, that does not have local loop broadband transport available for Internet use has a population of 257 people, except for one community now in negotiations with a private provider. Many of the relatively few towns in the 300 or less population size who do not have broadband access today will have access by the end of 2005. And if we include broadband access by satellite, 100 percent of Nebraska’s population has broadband access available to them if they want to subscribe. Satellite service by a company called Wild Blue is becoming available as early as this summer with both the up-stream and down-stream data flow being handled directly by the satellites.