Reynolds proposes broadband upgrades

Iowa ranks 45th in the country for high speed broadband internet access, and Gov. Kim Reynolds is proposing $150 million in funding to catch up.

Reynolds said Iowa has the second slowest internet speed in the country, Alaska bring the first.

'We really have to do better,” she said in comments to business leaders in Washington last week.

Reynolds said a third of the counties are in broadband deserts, 35 percent of households are at the bottom of broadband access and 18 percent of Iowans have access to affordable, high speed internet.

'It is not a luxury anymore, it is a critical infrastructure,” she said.

Reynolds said she proposed $150 million dollars over the next three years for funding that would leverage private sector funding. She said if a company moves to an area with slower broadband speeds, the state will increase the match for funding.

'But you need to build for 100 [megabytes upload] and 100 [megabytes download],” She said. 'Because we need to be building for the future.”

Reynolds believes if the state is able to do this, it will have one of the largest broadband build-outs in the country. She said every other state is investing in broadband.

KCTC General Manager Casey Peck said one of the areas of broadband they struggle with is upload speed. She said when the pandemic started all the customers were given a bump in speed.

She said there was a 37 percent increase in broadband usage from March to June, and 54 percent was in upload speed.

'Fiber is awesome and that is only way to go, wireless is not there,” Peck said.

The upload speed is important for people working from home and kids doing school work from home, she said.

Peck expressed concerns for access to supplies and contractors. She said they are currently struggling with availability and supply chain problems.