Lack of access to fast, reliable and affordable broadband internet service is a true emergency. Kids can’t do their homework at home, Mom’s internet store doesn’t work right, Dad can’t telecommute for school or apply for work and Gram’s medical device can’t send data to her doctor. Reliable internet service is 6 miles away at a library or library parking lot.

The town of Penobscot is a wonderful community of farmers, builders, fishermen, small-business owners, retirees, et al., that ranks high on school tests, is underserved by the internet and has the lowest property values on the Blue Hill peninsula. A Town Internet Committee has worked for two years and has three difficult options for the town to consider:

• Fund $600,000 to $3.1 million-plus to begin installing, soon, ideal service that will last for decades, in a public-private partnership.

• Work with the existing internet provider to make limited speed improvements to service to get through the next couple of years.

• Do nothing and hope for help from outside.

How might this town, and so many more like it, realize a future backed by the reasonable, reliable, yet world-class internet service enjoyed by most of America? Young families won’t buy houses here, business won’t start up and as the population ages, the town is likely to die.

It is our hope that the state of Maine will provide leadership, relaxed pole-attachment regulation and funding for all of Maine’s broadband needs. Maine needs a statewide plan that takes into account what individual towns have been realizing. The proposed bonds are a major step in the right direction but, hopefully, not the last.

Joel Katz

member, Penobscot Internet Committee

Penobscot