(The Center Square) – New Hampshire is diverting millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds to expand broadband internet coverage to rural and underserved communities.
A proposal approved by the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee on Friday authorizes the state to spend $51.3 million to create the Broadband Connect Program. This initiative will provide taxpayer-funded incentives to internet service providers to expand infrastructure in communities that lack access to high-speed broadband service.
The plan will require internet providers to bid on the contract, and Gov. Chris Sununu’s administration began soliciting bids last month. Overall, the funding will help connect up to 15,000 homes and businesses – about 50% of locations in New Hampshire that are still lacking high-speed internet, according to the Sununu administration.
The fiscal committee also approved a plan to spend $800,000 to map regions of the state where internet service remains spotty or nonexistent as the program is implemented. It also allocated about $130,000 to hire new staff to monitor the spending, as required under the federal funding.
Funding for the program comes from the federal Capital Projects Fund, which was created as part of the American Rescue Plan Act to connect more households to the internet.
New Hampshire is one of four states – including Virginia, West Virginia and Louisiana – to share in the first tranche of disbursements from the $10 billion fund.
Still, some advocates have raised questions about diverting taxpayer money to companies to build broadband infrastructure that will ultimately be paid for by consumers.
They have also cited a lack of guarantees in the program about the quality and affordability of broadband services and that the program won’t require the winning bidder to spend money on construction.
At Friday’s meeting, committee members asked state officials if there were any guarantees that broadband prices will be reasonable for consumers.
Mark Laliberte, broadband program manager at the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs, pointed out that under state law officials can’t tell internet providers what to charge in specific communities, but said they’ll be working with the winning bidder on the project to keep prices down.
“We can’t mandate certain prices,” he said. “But we can have a conversation about pricing … there’s a lot of areas that we’re going to be looking to build affordability into all this.”
Local governments have raised concerns they could be edged out of competition by private companies that are already providing the services.
The Sununu administration says it wants to award the contract to a single applicant capable of quickly expanding broadband service to rural and underserved communities without costing too much. Officials point out that ARPA-funded projects must be completed by 2026.
Roughly 5% of New Hampshire residents live in an area without broadband coverage, while 63% live in areas with only one provider, according to data provided by the White House. Those percentages are higher in rural sections of the state.
New Hampshire has pumped $13 million of federal CARES Act funds into broadband projects, connecting nearly 4,500 unserved households, the Sununu administration said.
Overall, the state expects to get $122 million through the ARPA law’s federal broadband expansion program.
