By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Maps drawn by the Federal Communications Commission outline the extent of broadband coverage in rural America and will determine the amount of federal funding northwest Missouri will receive to extend coverage.
Communities and residents have a chance to correct any errors in those maps.
And Adam Thorp with the Missouri Office of Broadband Development says a conference call Friday afternoon one will explain how to challenge the maps.
“Those maps are going to be used to determine how much funding each state receives out of this $42.45 billion federal investment in broadband through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” Thorp tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “It’s also going to help us determine where we need that money to go.”
Thorp says his office during the conference call will walk through how individuals, businesses, and communities can challenge the maps and point out where high-speed Internet is not available.
Thorp says the original FCC maps wrongly showed large areas of the state well served with high-speed Internet.
“Including large parts of northwest Missouri where we couldn’t fund projects, because it showed the entire area as being served,” according to Thorp. “The new maps are much better on that score. They show I would say a generally more realistic picture, including very large parts of northwest Missouri and areas around the state that are now well served.”
Much is at stake.
Congress approved the money, but did not allocate it. Those maps will determine where the money flows. If the maps incorrectly indicate an area has access to broadband when it doesn’t, that area likely won’t receive federal money no matter how dire the need.
“The amount of money that Missouri will receive from that funding depends on how much people engage with the challenge process and the more funding that Missouri receives, the more projects that we’ll be able to build.”
Thorp says the coronavirus pandemic made clear the importance of broadband.
“Because I think people recognize more than ever that there’s a really profound need for a whole variety of uses in terms of making sure that there aren’t communities in this state and in the country that get left behind in the digital economy,” Thorp says.
The Missouri Office of Broadband Development will walk individuals, businesses, and communities through the process of challenging those FCC maps during a conference call at 1pm Friday afternoon. Plus, the office and the University of Missouri Extension will provide technical assistance to those wishing to point out errors in the maps.
Click HERE for more information and to register for the conference call.