And some remote corners of Nebraska still have
no fixed service, forcing residents to use expensive,
satellite-based internet or their cellphones.
“There’s no real business case for putting
broadband out in some of those areas,” said
Sen. Curt Friesen, a task force member and
chairman of the Legislature’s Transportation and
Telecommunications Committee. “It’s going to
be a challenge to get service there.”
Friesen said it’s natural that rural consumers
would pay more than urban residents because
of the difficulty in extending coverage to those
areas, but he argued state officials should try to
minimize the difference.
Nationally, households in zip codes with the
lowest population density paid an average of
37% more for broadband service than those
in the most populated areas, and that trend
appears to hold true in Nebraska, according to
the report. Friesen said he has encountered rural
constituents whose broadband bills appear to
be substantially higher than their city-dwelling
counterparts for comparable service.
Lawmakers have scheduled a hearing Dec. 4
to consider whether they should introduce
legislation in the 2020 session to try to address
the problem, but Friesen said he doesn’t yet
know what the Legislature should do.
Friesen said the service is critical for rural areas
already struggling to retain young residents,
many of whom need broadband to work
remotely. Farmers also increasingly use high-
speed internet to monitor their crops and
operate machinery. Beyond work uses, most
people now expect high-speed internet to
stream movies and television shows.