The City of Jamestown has been included in a state plan for broadband.
Empire State Development has included the city’s plan for creating a municipally-owned broadband infrastructure in its five-year action plan.
The plan, which lays out a framework for implementing $664 million of state-funding from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, describes how to most effectively invest New York’s allocation in ways that will attract private investment and reach unserved and underserved locations with a mix of fiber optic and wireless internet technologies.
Mayor Eddie Sundquist estimates that a municipally-owned broadband network would cost $25 million to build and operate, but the monthly cost for users would remain fixed while providing a faster service. For residents who are participants in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Affordable Connectivity Program, the cost of 1-gigabit internet service could be provided with no charge to the user.
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