Rural America needs hookup

By Patrick Hunt, Garrett County
Published in The Garrett County Republican

I am now in my second week of having high-speed internet service in my rural home outside of Friendsville. I could not be more pleased with the QCOL provided fiber optic cable attached to my cabin.

I want to thank the Garrett County officials who sought and administered the state and federal funds that made this installation possible. I am grateful that I can now participate fully in 21st-century communications.

But I am also concerned that many people here in the county, and throughout rural America, cannot. They cannot because stringing cable, placing poles and other construction costs are prohibitive. State and federal dollars subsidized what I could not afford.

In cities where there may be tens of thousands of people near a mile of fiber or coaxial cable, the cable companies are able to recoup their investments rather quickly through monthly fees. On the three-mile stretch of road where I live, there are fewer than 25 homes. I don’t think that the monthly fee that I pay will ever cover the full cost of construction for the service I receive.

Our country faced a similar problem 77 years ago with telephone service. The problem was solved with the Communications Act of 1934. A cornerstone of the Communications Act was the federal government’s commitment to nationwide Universal Service. While the first lines for service from New York to Boston (235 miles) were laid in 1884, 50 years later, there was still no phone service to wide swaths of rural America.

The Communications Act established the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the industry and to ensure that affordable telephone service was available to all residence, regardless of their geographic location or their economic condition.

I cannot envision an America without universal telephone service, but I can plainly see the difficulties that rural America is facing without universal high-speed internet. While urban and suburban Americans are enjoying the benefits of remote learning, telecommuting, and distance medicine, many of us here in Garrett County are not.

The proposed infrastructure legislation that is presently being discussed in Congress would bring high-speed, affordable internet to all in Garrett County and to the rest of rural America. I encourage you to call our Garrett County officials to thank them for the steps they have taken and to encourage them to support an infrastructure bill that will provide universal high-speed internet service for all of Garrett County and the rest of rural America.

Patrick Hunt. Friendsville