High-speed internet has never been so important. As Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore pointed out on a virtual Chamber program Tuesday, there is high demand for broadband for remote learning, working from home and telehealth visits.
Northern Kentucky counties are in discussion with providers like Cincinnati Bell, who say they plan to roll out high-speed internet over the next couple of years in 38,000 of an estimated 57,000 households without it.
Moore says in 19,000 households there are no plans for broadband. So, Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties plan to pool resources to do something about it. Moore, who is the president of the National Association of Counties (NACo), suggests federal CARES Act and other funding. He is creating a NACo task force to address the lack of high-speed internet nationally.
"Speed is of the essence in another way," he says. "We know with the pandemic, they don't need it two, three, four years from now. They need it now."
Moore, in Tuesday's Eggs 'N Issues program, said the collaboration with the three counties to solve this problem is doable. He explained the recent 911 upgrade was a result of similar collaboration.
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