Why Access to Broadband is an Economic Development Issue

Amanda Cooper, Vice President of Strategic Intitiatives
 
The Upjohn Institute presented Lakeshore Advantage with a study on how we can ensure economic vitality for our region 10 years down the road. One of four identified barriers to address is “Access to Broadband.”
 
Huh?
 
Doesn’t everyone have high speed internet access? You just call your cable company and get a little black box, plug it in and the globe light icon comes on, right? No, not everybody. 
 
Broadband necessity was evidenced – and the access to broadband gaps exposed – when many of us switched to working and learning from home due to COVID-19. Efforts to close these gaps are accelerated with the newest trend of businesses and workers choosing where they want to operate and live for the best lifestyle, as remote work options grow. 
 
Our team started diving into this obscure topic. What is Mbps? Do I have broadband at home? Is my internet down, or is the capacity for what I’m trying to do just too much for what we have? We started to understand what it means to not have access to broadband and how it can negatively impact living, working, entrepreneurship and business growth in our region. We hit the streets in this video to see what people’s general use and understanding of broadband is and how that compares with the current FCC definition of it. 
 
Partners in our region, including Holland Board of Public Works, Ottawa and Allegan Counties, Merit Network, and ITC Holdings started sharing what they are doing and engaging our team for regional economic success on providing high speed internet access for all. 
 
Some of the things we learned:

• Broadband maps may show that you have access to internet, but in reality, that data was shared with the FCC by the providers, so they are inaccurate. 
• Looking at our own data from recent business leader interviews we conducted, 
  • One out of six West Michigan lakeshore business leaders say their community’s technology infrastructure has not been adequate for their company’s needs, and 
  •  A majority of business leaders say that their companies’ needs for internet access and speed are increasing.
• The current FCC definition of broadband, or high-speed internet, is 25 Mbps (megabits per second) download speed and 3 Mbps upload speed. What that means is, if you have four devices at your house, three doing simple tasks such as email, streaming music, surfing the internet, and the fourth one needs to do a Zoom or Google Classroom call, you need broadband. 
• A battalion of low flying satellites have been spotted in the West Michigan night sky. These are some of 1,500 Starlink satellites currently in orbit, already bringing broadband to 10,000 customers in beta testing. This is Elon Musk’s new project to bring 300 Mbps high speed internet to those who can’t otherwise get it, mostly in rural areas. However, most of the broadband leaders we’ve spoken to are hesitant to recommend it as a leading solution for West Michigan. That's because barriers like cloudy skies and trees can affect reliability. It’s also expensive at $99/month plus $499 for equipment.

 
What can you do to engage and learn more?

• To illustrate how access to broadband is an economic development issue, and to bring the stakeholders together on how to address it, we hosted a virtual panel discussion on the digital divide that exists in our region. This webinar is available HERE. Resources discussed in that webinar are below:
  • Ottawa County’s Digital Inclusion Strategy HERE. 
    Holland BPW Broadband Information HERE. 
  • Allegan County’s Digital Inclusion Strategy HERE. 
  • Merit Network Resources HERE and HERE.
• Ottawa County residents – take the brief Data Collection survey to help bring broadband access to all of Ottawa County HERE.  
• Contact Beth Blanton, Lakeshore Advantage VP of Engagement, to learn how you can engage in Lakeshore Advantage efforts to grow our economy and opportunity for all. 

 
Broadband. It’s one of those things we don’t really think about until we don’t have it. Like electricity. We expect broadband to be fast and available to everyone. It needs to be, for our students to learn. For our remote workers to get the job done. For entrepreneurs to research and start their businesses. For companies to make, innovate and manage product. For employers to grow and offer diverse career opportunities. For talent and business attraction. For our future workforce. 
 
Together, and with resources, we are identifying the gaps and must provide access to broadband for all. Our vibrant economy depends on it.