County IT Director Charlie Welch recently updated the Board of Supervisors on the BEAM broadband expansion efforts in the county.
Welch said there is an opportunity to get broadband expansion in Simpson County. He said some areas are unserved and some have broadband capabilities that do not meet public guidelines.
According to Welch, the county has until the middle of March to report underserved areas to receive funding for broadband expansion. Citizens can report online using the BEAM Challenge map or by phone to help identify areas in need of broadband expansion.
This is a competitive grant which requires citizens’ input to help secure funding. BEAM has already identified that 52.7 percent of residences in Simpson County are underserved or unserved, and the majority of residences already have a funding mechanism in place, as highlighted in green within the BEAM Challenge map.
Furthermore, areas highlighted in gray as served is where citizens have an opportunity to validate whether these residences do or do not have service.
The challenge map will be active until the middle of March 2024 to challenge these findings. Citizens who live in gray areas can report that internet speeds are not up to standard and inform BEAM of other issues.
BEAM Sally Doty said once the challenge map is closed no other opportunities will be given to request funding for an area.
Welch reported a 1.2 billion dollar funding mechanism that will be allocated once the challenge is complete. If a citizen’s area does not fall within the challenge, it will not receive funding. “This makes voicing your concerns via the BEAD Challenge map extremely important,” he said.
The link to the BEAD Map is https://broadbandms.com/register/bead/map. A survey and internet test to help identify slow or no internet is available at https://broadbandms.com/
