IDAHO, USA — Access to the internet is something a lot of us take for granted. Yet, it isn't so readily available across a lot of Idaho's rural areas. Which means in a lot of places because 88% of Idaho is considered rural but 28% of Idahoans live in those places.
However, that access adversity is about to change for some of them. It's part of the "Investing in America" agenda and the Biden-Harris administration announced $714 million in grants and loans to connect rural communities in 19 states to high-speed internet. Idaho is one of those 19 states, but it won't happen right away.
"President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is mobilizing historic levels of private sector investments in the United States, bringing manufacturing back to America after decades of offshoring, and creating new, good-paying jobs, including union jobs and jobs that don’t require a college degree," it states on the White House website page.
The "Investing in America" project is about changing the trajectory of a lot of things in America, like jobs, infrastructure, clean energy, imported products, biotechnology and semiconductors.
"Under the President’s Investing in America agenda, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $65 billion to connect everyone to high-speed internet through the Internet for All initiative," a press release stated. "... Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, the Department has invested in 142 ReConnect projects that will bring high-speed internet access to 314,000 rural Americans."
Mitchell Landrieu, the Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, said that now, the internet is not a luxury anymore.
"President believes that knowledge is the great equalizer. And if you don't have access to the internet, it's a necessity now," Landrieu said.
A White House Fact sheet states; "These investments will bring down costs for families, help small businesses, and boost education for America’s kids."
In Idaho, Landrieu said Ada, Canyon and Grant County were chosen by the Department of Agriculture after looking at different areas that needed it the most.
"So, the Oregon telephone company is going to receive over $15.3 million dollars in grant loan combination to deploy fiber networks to provide high speed internet and this money is going to go to a network that's going to benefit 7,300 or so people, 145 businesses, 500 forms 400 educational facilities in Ada and Canyon counties in Idaho, and then in Grant County in Oregon, because Oregon telephone company is the is the provider for both Idaho and Oregon in this part of the country."
When will the project be started? Landrieu said right now.
"This one is specifically designed to make sure that folks in rural America know that they're seen, don't get left behind and have the access to the same level of knowledge and technology that everybody else does in the country," Landrieu said.
This is the fourth time the government has given money for a project like this, and more money should be coming down the pipeline, meaning more internet coverage for more of rural Idaho is still to come. The Oregon Telephone Company, which covers part of Idaho, can start using the money and laying down those fibers immediately.
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