Seward County residents came through when asked to test and document their broadband service last spring, but the Seward County group behind the effort has not yet heard what the results will mean in terms of funding for improvements.
But they are optimistic that the collaboration and widespread testing will position the county for a role in the Nebraska Broadband Challenge, an initiative to allocate Nebraska’s $405 million share in federal funding to improve and expand internet access in unserved or underserved areas through infrastructure development.
The program targets rural areas where a lack of connectivity can be a challenge for those working online, accessing telehealth or using technology to keep in touch via school websites or email.
Over the course of a few weeks last spring, Nebraska residents were asked to test and document their broadband internet access, said Jonathan Jank, president and CEO of the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership, who with the Seward County Board of Commissioners, Southeast Nebraska Development District, and industry partners, and area residents work as a coordinated Broadband Task Force.
By signing on to a website, participants could test and report their broadband ability and speed in downloading and uploading information in a measure of megabytes per second (Mb/s). Funding for the national program is targeted to help areas where they have no internet, or internet that performs at less than 25 megabytes for downloads and 3 megabytes for uploads.
The target minimum is 100 Mb/s for downloads and 20 Mb/s for uploads.
In some cases, consumers have paid for higher levels of service than they are able to get at their locations, making them underserved.
The program documented thousands of challenges in locations across the state, but the extensive response from around 5,000 locations in Seward County was about 38% of about 14,000 locations identified across Nebraska.
Scrolling through the state’s data, Seward County mail addresses in Beaver Crossing, Bee, Cordova, Garland, Goehner, Milford, Pleasant Dale, Seward, Staplehurst and Utica are included, as well as communities like Gresham, Malcolm and Ulysses that are near county borders.
Criteria for continuing in the funding program is based on the number of challenges recorded per census block, which includes around 1,500 residents. If a census block reports at least six challenges, it may be eligible to participate in future grant funding for improved services.
Jacob Jennings, vice president and community affairs director for the SCCDP, coordinates the local effort and said the Broadband, Equity, and Accessibility Deployment Program will govern how the Nebraska funds are allocated under the guidance of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Jennings hopes to hear something in the coming weeks and months about what steps the county group may have ahead of them for 2025.
Seward County’s turnout was boosted by a postcard campaign funded through the Seward County Commissioners’ Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund. That grant of up to $2,000 allowed the Seward County Broadband Task Force to send a postcard to each residence in the county asking them to test their broadband services and provided up to $3,000 to support marketing of the challenge.
While the results don’t indicate that broadband service is worse here than other locations, it does show that people were willing to test and document the service, and that the county is ready to move if a grant is received.
“I would argue it’s what the county did,” Janks said. “Other areas have troubles. I think we are just ahead of the game.”
He also said the state has been ahead of other states in the broadband connectivity work to make use of the federal funding.
“It’s a relatively complicated process,” he said. “I am proud of our state because we have been more proactive about it.”
He is also appreciative of the county board’s actions, the SCCDP and the Broadband Task Force.
“We are getting feedback from local business that this is big issue,” he said.
This is the third broadband improvement program the county has participated in. The previous efforts have resulted in Allo installing fiber optic cables in the northeast portion of the county, roughly north of the interstate and from Garland east.
Jennings said that is what the Allo workers frequently spotted along Highway 34 and elsewhere in eastern Seward County have been working on.
The importance of technology makes the fiber optic cables the “fifth utility” in development, Jank said, joining sewer, water, electric and natural gas in community development.
While the next steps will be likely focus on better connecting the county with technology through infrastructure bidding, Jank said future programs will likely focus on digital equity and accessibility by all people. That could include programs aimed at digital literacy, accessible device repair, and promoting the ways people can use technology to improve the quality of their lives.
That phase may see the task force broadened from government and businesspeople to include more representatives of schools, libraries, churches, clinics, and civic groups.
“Everyone should have access to it and understand how to use it,” Jank said.
