Sunday, April 13, 2008
Weekly Column From West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin
This week we’ve had some good news about the development of West Virginia’s statewide broadband Internet access. I joined dozens of supporters to sign a bill that will further broadband development in our state and, because of that groundbreaking legislation, I was asked to share our progress with members of the National Press Club in Washington.
I’m very proud of the progress we are making to reach our goal to have our state wired for high-speed Internet, from border to border, by the year 2010. Just a few years ago, only about 54 percent of West Virginia’s households had high-speed access to the Internet. Today, that number is greater than 80 percent.
But challenges lie ahead to reach our goal. As a state with a large rural population and below-average population density, consumers and service providers continue to struggle with expanding and making advanced services such as broadband affordable. Our mountains increase that difficulty, as our rugged terrain makes building infrastructure of all types costly and time consuming.
Connecting people to the Internet can help give them the power to change their lives. We are laying the groundwork for widespread telemedicine, bringing some of the world’s most advanced medical procedures and technology to our small towns. In addition to health care, affordable distance-education programs, work force training, electronic-government applications and telecommuting are just a fraction of the services we can offer our communities and households.
The increased use of these applications can save time, money and improve our quality of life. It literally opens West Virginia to the world.
The legislation we passed is the first of its kind in the country that sets minimum download and upload speeds as new broadband infrastructure is constructed. These requirements will support educational, health care and telecommuting applications. It also creates the Broadband Development Council, which will administer funds to help private Internet providers reach our under-served communities.
Broadband infrastructure will require investment and continual upgrading. It also requires a strong business climate and the creation of partnerships to maximize coverage and utilization. We have that commitment and have created partnerships with some of the world’s leading technology companies, including Cisco Systems and Verizon.
We recently completed a broadband map that that clearly outlines coverage areas and service gaps for communities across the state. Using this information, we are able to better plan development that will support broadband expansion in the future.
With all these principles in mind, West Virginia is rapidly moving toward its broadband goals.
I’m very proud of the progress we are making to reach our goal to have our state wired for high-speed Internet, from border to border, by the year 2010. Just a few years ago, only about 54 percent of West Virginia’s households had high-speed access to the Internet. Today, that number is greater than 80 percent.
But challenges lie ahead to reach our goal. As a state with a large rural population and below-average population density, consumers and service providers continue to struggle with expanding and making advanced services such as broadband affordable. Our mountains increase that difficulty, as our rugged terrain makes building infrastructure of all types costly and time consuming.
Connecting people to the Internet can help give them the power to change their lives. We are laying the groundwork for widespread telemedicine, bringing some of the world’s most advanced medical procedures and technology to our small towns. In addition to health care, affordable distance-education programs, work force training, electronic-government applications and telecommuting are just a fraction of the services we can offer our communities and households.
The increased use of these applications can save time, money and improve our quality of life. It literally opens West Virginia to the world.
The legislation we passed is the first of its kind in the country that sets minimum download and upload speeds as new broadband infrastructure is constructed. These requirements will support educational, health care and telecommuting applications. It also creates the Broadband Development Council, which will administer funds to help private Internet providers reach our under-served communities.
Broadband infrastructure will require investment and continual upgrading. It also requires a strong business climate and the creation of partnerships to maximize coverage and utilization. We have that commitment and have created partnerships with some of the world’s leading technology companies, including Cisco Systems and Verizon.
We recently completed a broadband map that that clearly outlines coverage areas and service gaps for communities across the state. Using this information, we are able to better plan development that will support broadband expansion in the future.
With all these principles in mind, West Virginia is rapidly moving toward its broadband goals.
# posted by Joe Kinzer @ 10:52 AM 
