Newport is one of the first communities that will receive state funding to bring high-speed internet access to currently underserved areas.
“It’s a very big deal,” Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong said. “It’s a huge amount of funding and it’s going to directly impact households in this community that don’t have access to high-speed internet right now.”
In June, the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation announced a nearly $25-million investment to improve broadband service to 6,700 locations in three communities – Newport, Jamestown and Westerly – by expanding the state’s fiber optic network to areas in these communities that the state considers “unserved” or “underserved” in terms of internet access and download speeds. It’s the first move in a three-phase plan with the goal to make high-speed internet access affordable to residents throughout the state.
The project is expected to bring 100 megabits per second (mbps) download and upload speeds to areas in Newport, Jamestown and Westerly at a cost that will not exceed $53.09/month.
“Broadband is no longer a luxury; it is a 21st-century necessity that will keep Rhode Island competitive,” Gov. Dan McKee said in a news release announcing the investment.
What is broadband?
Without getting too technical, broadband is a general term referring to a method of data transmission between one place and another, such as a personal computer and a larger network of computers such as the Internet.
During the 1980s and 1990s, as more people began using computers, accessing the Internet meant connecting a personal computer or workstation to the local area computer network (LAN) with an ethernet cable, or connecting through “dial-up,” which used a modem to convert the digital information from the computer into audio frequencies that could travel through telephone wires.
Then, in the 1990s and 2000s, these methods were largely replaced by emerging technologies that can use a broader band of frequencies, or multiple frequencies, to transmit more data between computers faster and more reliably. There are several ways broadband connections are achieved, ranging from satellites to wireless radio waves, to fiber optic cables, which use pulses of light to transmit information.
According to the state’s Broadband and Digital Equity Strategic Plan, fiber optic cables are the highest quality and most resilient broadband service, and are the backbone of modern broadband networks, which is why the state is expanding its fiber optic network.
Why is this needed?
The state is trying to make high-speed internet both more accessible and more affordable to all Rhode Islanders, starting with those businesses and homes identified as “unserved,” or “underserved,” which is gauged using the speed at which data is transmitted through the building or home’s existing internet connection. Unserved locations have internet connections which download data at a rate slower than the minimum standard the Federal Communications Commission established for broadband in 2015, which is 25 megabits per second, and an upload speed of 3 mbps. Underserved locations have speeds less than 100 mbps for download and 20 mbps for uploading, the new benchmark adopted by the FCC in March 2024.
These speed thresholds were established by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, a national program that the state secured a $108.7-million allocation from to expand broadband service. That funding will go toward future projects, however, as the Newport, Jamestown and Westerly project is being funded through the state’s Capital Projects Fund.
Why Newport?
The state chose the three communities using a formula that took into account the number of locations that needed to be addressed and the amount of funding that was available, according to the press release. In Newport, that means 2,900 homes and businesses will get access to faster internet, alongside 1,900 locations in Jamestown and another 1,900 in Westerly.
According to the state’s interactive broadband map, only 38% of Newporters have internet access and speeds considered to meet or exceed the FCC’s new broadband standard, with most of those businesses and households in the First and Second Wards. However, the households and businesses considered “underserved” are also concentrated around the border of those two wards, around Broadway, while the Third Ward is primarily underserved, especially those businesses along Newport Harbor and down Thames Street.
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