Date: 06-24-2015
Comparing Internet download speeds worldwide, Kentucky ranks just below Iraq and just above the lowest nation, Kuwait, at 34 megabytes per second. Proving the case and need for broadband expansion as soon as possible throughout the state.
Steve Rucker, deputy secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet, shared some hard-to-digest broadband statistics with the new House Special Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology on Tuesday.
Rucker gave an update to legislators on the broadband initiative bringing broadband Internet access to some of the more rural areas of the state.
As sobering as it may seem to be sandwiched between Iraq and Kuwait, Kentucky doesn’t fare any better with other states. According to a Washington Post study, Rucker said the commonwealth ranks 47th nationally in download speeds.
Terrible numbers
“On top of that, 23 percent of our population does not have access to broadband as compared to 1.5 percent of our urban population,” Rucker said.
“In eastern Kentucky those numbers only get worse. Thirty percent of eastern Kentucky households who do not have broadband at the rates established by the FCC.”
Moreover, Rucker said 450,000 Kentucky household don’t have broadband access with 42,000 of them in eastern Kentucky.
Worldwide costs for broadband average $1.59 megabytes per second, but the average in the U.S. is $3.51 mbps.
By Brad Bowman
The State Journal
