PROJECTS AFOOT TO EXPAND BROADBAND SERVICES ACROSS COUNTY
The push to expand broadband Internet access to all corners of Riverside County, with the goal of closing the “digital divide,” is continuing as funding opportunities and programs expand, the county’s chief technology officer told the Board of Supervisors.
“We’re advocating to continue to work with state, federal and regional partners to bring more broadband services to areas that are not served,” Department of Information Technology Director Tom Mullen said May 10 during a presentation on the county’s
Broadband Master Plan.
“The message is, we’ve got to maximize our dollar going forward,” he told the board. “There are billions of dollars allocated by federal agencies that are coming to the state. There’s money for rural and urban communities that need broadband services. We intend to apply for grant dollars.”
The Broadband Master Plan was formalized in 2016 with the establishment of RIVCOConnect.org, which serves as a platform showcasing the various steps the county is taking to promote highspeed Internet access, as well as providing residents with details on how to find economical options to access Internet service that offers 25 megabytes-per-minute download, and 3 Mbps upload, speeds.
Over the last six years, the Department of Information Technology and other county agencies have focused on how to achieve a build-out of digital networks that would cover most or all of the county, including the most remote locations.
Riverside County is part of a regional consortium that looks for “broadband opportunity zones” where low-cost high-speed Internet can be deployed for the benefit of schoolchildren, working adults who need to telecommute, homebound residents who might need telemedicine visits and others.
The Broadband Master Plan originally included an objective for 1-gigabyte connectivity by running fiber optic cables over 7,200 square miles, at a cost of $2 billion to $4 billion. However, that goal has since proved less practical than other options, mostly piecemeal, relying on funds from state and federal agencies.
In August 2020, $10 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act funds were allocated for a program that involved creating nearly 8,000 mobile “hot spots” in the county’s 19 school districts to enable students impacted by the COVID public health closures to get online.
Since then, the county and its partners in the consortium have received other taxpayer-financed assistance, including the federal Emergency Broadband Benefit program, which last year provided qualifying low-income residents with subsidies of up to $50 a month to pay for high-speed Internet. The program that replaced EBB, under the federal Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act of 2021, is the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides monthly vouchers of $30 for the same EBB recipients, officials said.