Monitor Editor
TALLAHASSEE— A new report by Florida TaxWatch says a half-million Florida residents have no access to high-speed internet and Bradford County ranks among the counties with the lowest broadband coverage.
“Communities that currently lack access to the affordable, reliable, high-quality broadband internet that is necessary for full participation in education, health care, employment, social services and government programs, and civic life are at a marked disadvantage without that access,” the report says.
TaxWatch said that currently, only Pinellas County has 100% of its residents with access to broadband coverage. Less than 50% of the residents in five counties: Dixie, Gilchrist, Holmes, Jefferson, Levy and Washington have access to broadband.
Between 50% and 75% of the populations of Bradford, along with DeSoto, Jackson, Lafayette, Liberty, Madison and Taylor have access to broadband.
Only 1% of Dixie County residents can get high-speed internet.
Union and Clay counties, along with Alachua, Baker, Columbia, Putnam and 14 other counties have between 75.1% and 95% coverage.
“With 220 internet providers providing service in Florida, approximately one million people have access to only one wired provider and more than 250,000 do not have access to a wired provider at their home,” TaxWatch reports. “In terms of affordability, almost 60% of Floridians have access to a monthly plan that costs $60 per month or less. This places Florida slightly ahead of the curve nationally.”
TaxWatch reported that one barrier to increasing internet coverage are the high prices municipal and cooperative-owned utilities charge for attaching lines to poles.
Pole attachment prices charged by investor-owned utilities are regulated by Florida’s Public Service Commission. However, municipal and cooperative-owned power providers are exempt from such regulation.
“A 2019 study of pole rates nationwide found that the rates charged by unregulated municipally and cooperatively owned utilities in Florida exceed those charged by regulated investor-owned utilities by 200-250 percent, respectively,” the report says.
The report also says Florida should appropriate additional funding to broadband infrastructure, particularly COVID and federal infrastructure funding.
