BOWDOIN

The need for high-speed Internet in rural Maine is becoming an economic imperative, according to state Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology.

Berry has proposed a bill seeking authorization of a general bond issue to increase rural Maine’s access to broadband Internet service. On par with road and bridge bonds, he proposed an investment of $100 million.

Berry’s bill would work in concert with legislation sponsored by state Sen. Shenna Bellows, D-Manchester, to structure ConnectME similarly to Maine Technology Institute, allowing the state to partner with the private sector.

Berry said his proposal will do a lot for rural Maine, “and really help us to create jobs and give our kids access to education and boost telemedicine for our seniors.”

Increasing broadband access in rural areas is “a great opportunity to keep young people in the state and encourage people who love Maine’s outdoors and quality of life, to locate here,” Berry said.

However, Berry said one of his constituents could soon lose her job if she can’t get a better broadband connection from home. The constituent works for a large health care company, a job that allows her to live and work in Maine and have a family here. She is required to have an upload and download speed of 10 megabits per second.

That constituent isn’t alone in her online woes.

Jennifer Williams and her partner Emily White serve on Bowdoin’s cable and Internet committee. They moved to town last July for the beauty and quiet the area has to offer, but both work from home and need access to high-speed Internet.

They don’t have access to a broadband cable or Internet system, Williams said. Their only option is to get Internet through a satellite dish, which doesn’t provide the speed they need. They supplement the service with hotspots through Verizon, but run out of data sometimes. It costs more than $200 a month for these services.

“It’s not a single problem, so it can’t really be a single solution,” White said.

Cable companies can provide high-speed Internet access. However, Berry noted that cable service doesn’t extend to areas on the outskirts of towns such as Bowdoin and Bowdoinham.

“It’s just not worth the investment to run the cable for them,” Berry said.

The town’s contract with cable and Internet provider Comcast expired two years ago. Residents and selectmen expressed frustration at attempts to work with the company to bring service to those not connected, and questioned the approximately $400,000 cost.

According to one member of the town’s new Cable Internet Committee of Bowdoin, today as many as 281 households are without Internet.

On Monday, ConnectME Authority Associate Executive Director Lisa Leahy suggested to Bowdoin selectmen that the town consider applying to the state agency for a planning grant in order to map out the town’s broadband future.

Berry warned that Maine needs to step up its rural broadband game. He cited the former community of Swan Island, once a center of international commerce thanks to involvement with the shipbuilding and the ice industries in the 1800s. However, the island failed to embrace the rise of automobiles, electricity and telephones, and by 1940 the small population had deserted the island.

“That’s what will happen to our state unless we invest and take the bull by the horns,” he said.