Lawmakers requested the 31-page report
after creating a task force in 2018 to study
the affordability and accessibility of internet
service statewide.
The report says current maps of broadband
service likely overstate the amount of
coverage available in Nebraska, meaning the
problem is more widespread than it appears.
It also suggested the Nebraska Public Service
Commission could withhold state funding from
providers that aren’t adequately serving their
coverage area and award the money to others.
The commission subsidizes rural broadband
providers out of Nebraska’s universal service
fund, which holds money from a state fee tacked
onto consumers’ phone bills. The fund was
created to encourage telecom companies to
offer service in remote areas with relatively few
paying customers.
But former state Sen. Paul Schumacher said the
fund creates a perverse incentive for internet
providers to work as slowly as possible. If
companies finished the job quickly, Schumacher
said state officials would probably question
whether the subsidy was still necessary.
“It’s a terribly inefficient system that isn’t well
thought through,” said Schumacher, who
co-founded one of Nebraska’s first internet
companies. “The whole thing is messed up,
and it won’t get better as long as it’s highly
profitable for phone companies to continue
collecting subsidies.”
Schumacher, of Columbus, said it would make
more sense to have Nebraska’s publicly owned
power companies offer broadband service, but
telecom lobbyists have blocked the idea.