Owning a business is full of challenges, but in the 21st century, Warren County EDC knows securing internet service should not be one of them.
Because broadband is important to businesses considering relocating to our area and to those already established here, the EDC is working to bring rural communities throughout the region high-speed broadband internet service
Increasing access and usage of broadband benefits more than individual businesses. Offering high-speed internet access leads to higher property values, increased job and population growth, an increase in new business development and lower unemployment rates by increasing the types of jobs available and capacity for online learning, and by providing a baseline for residents’’ skills in our increasingly digital world.
“Broadband expansion can also improve health and life outcomes, offering access to remote health care providers, online social networks, and educational opportunities,” the Brookings Institute reports. “A cost-benefit analysis of rural broadband installation in Indiana observed three- to four-fold returns on investment, not including state and local governments’ cost savings on medical expenditures and additional tax revenues from increased incomes.”
Since 2020, projects led by EDC brought broadband to more than 1,700 unserved rural homes in the towns of Johnsburg, Thurman and Stony Creek, and offered another 1,000 homes access to other internet providers.
In fall 2020, EDC assisted private internet provider Slic Network Solutions in securing an easement on county-owned land to install a switch cabinet capable of servicing fiber expansion in rural towns including Thurman, Stony Creek and Johnsburg.
More than 200 miles of fiber line were extended to facilitate access to the aforementioned 1,700 unserved homes.
North Country Broadband Alliance — a group that includes the EDC, six Adirondack counties and four private internet providers —plans to file for the first of several federal grants to address unserved and underserved homes in mostly rural mountainous areas.
Click here to learn more about why the EDC believes broadband is a fundamental need.
