Peterborough officials are hoping that a vote in the state House today will be the first step in clearing the way for more broadband competition and greater access to high-speed Internet for the town.
Peterborough’s state Representative Peter Leishman is one of the sponsors of HB191, a bill that would strike language from an existing law that limits the use of bonds for the expansion of Internet services. In the current law, towns cannot take out a bond to extend service is the area is already being served by an existing broadband provider.
The law limits the town’s negotiating power and their options, said Peterborough Selectwoman Barbara Miller, and lack of sufficient high-speed Internet effects up to 40 percent of homes in Peterborough.
Jeanne Dietsch of Peterborough, who serves on the Economic Development Authority’s broadband access committee, said that while the main areas of Peterborough are very well served, in the more remote areas of town, access can be up to 1,000 times less than in the business center, and it becomes difficult for those areas to attract residents, which can also affect the workforce.
“Every year, it gets harder and harder to sell a house without access to high-speed Internet,” said Dietsch. “It’s harming our workforce.”
This is the seventh time this bill or a similar one has been before the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee.
“Seven times is really enough,” said Dietsch. “Every year this situation becomes worse for the people that don’t have access.”
There is another bill before the Science, Technology and Energy Committee, requesting a study committee on broadband and ways to extend service into rural areas. Dietsch, Miller, and a contingent of representatives from Peterborough and Keene attended hearings on the two bills last week, requesting that the committee approve the HB191 and shelve the study committee bill, seeing it as a way to “kick the can down the road,” said Dietsch.
The committee is slated to take a vote on HB191 today. Peterborough officials are coordinating a call-in campaign to encourage committee members to vote in favor of HB191. For contact information on how to contact committee members, visit www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/committeedetails.aspx?code=h24.