As Mississippi kicks off a process to identify gaps in high-speed internet service, the head of the office overseeing broadband expansions says the state may have enough money to make quality upload and download speeds available to everyone who wants them.
A few months ago, Kosciusko native Sally Doty wasn’t sure if the 1.2 billion dollars in federal funding would be sufficient to cover the entire state. Now, she says she’s “feeling better about it.”
Doty runs the Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi, or BEAM.
“We do calculations periodically with the amount of unserved to underserved and what our projected costs are, but
it’s kind of a moving target,” said Doty.
Doty said previous projects, which won’t rely on the latest federal funding, are taking care of some of the gaps in broadband service across the state.
Mississippi last week launched a process verifying the accuracy of maps showing where quality broadband is available in the state.
The 1.2 billion is aimed at providing high-speed service to neighborhoods designated as unserved or underserved.
