Rural and urban areas of upstate New York unserved or underserved by high speed broadband, are the targets for the $25 million "Connect NY" funding program announced by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today.
Internet service providers have until October 5 to submit their applications for grants made available through the Regional Economic Development Councils and Empire State Development.
The statement by the Governor says that over six million citizens of the state "face significant obstacles to Internet connectivity", by which he means that they either are unable to afford access or do not feel there would be any benefits in doing do.
This report from 2010 by the Broadband Development and Deployment Council found that the state was ranked 5th in the nation for internet speeds and that 1.5% of residences are still not "full participants in the information age."
"Expanding broadband will result in more economic opportunity for business and more jobs for New Yorkers." says Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Kenneth Adams.
Residents of the state are able to plot the progress of the state's broadband rollout using this website.
The Governor's statement says that the funding is intended to focus on "Last mile services", a term applied to the final stage of connection in a communications network and the sector of delivery where bottlenecks in internet speed usually occur.
