Increasing Lewis County residents’ access to quality, affordable, high-speed broadband service through public-private partnerships is the goal of the Lewis County Broadband Action Team (LCBAT), according to a news release from earlier this month.
In the release, the team announced its completion of a “broadband action and digital equity plan” for the county to qualify for federal grant funding under a federal grant program. Washington state is expected to be awarded just over $900 million in total from the program for broadband, with the dollars distributed among eligible counties and tribes.
“Broadband infrastructure investment is greatly needed and now that this initial planning work has been completed, projects in Lewis County are well-positioned to be a recipient of some of those grant funds to help overcome the difficulties of broadband deployment in rural, unserved/underserved areas,” said action team Chair Frank Corbin in the news release.
The work, it stated, was completed by an all-volunteer group of individuals representing Lewis County, Lewis County Public Utility District, Timberland Regional Library, the Port of Chehalis, Althea and several local citizens.
The release also said input was received from a number of companies and organizations such as Pope's Place, Providence Centralia Hospital, Lumen (formerly CenturyLink), ToledoTel, Xfinity (Comcast), local governments, school districts and numerous others.
“The (broadband action team) officers sincerely thank each and every one who contributed their time and professional services to help with this six-month effort,” Corbin said. “While the initial planning work has been completed, the work of the LCBAT is not ending; we will continue to gather further community input and refine the plan moving forward.”
The plan may be accessed at https://bit.ly/LCBAT-plan.
For more information, email lewiscountybat@gmail.com.
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