Page 31 - BusinessWest March 3, 2021

“But, frankly, the fact that we have communi- ties that don’t have broadband internet access raises very profound questions about how a high- tech state like Massachusetts, in this day and age, can allow that to happen.”
As president and CEO of the Western Massa-
State Sen. Eric Lesser calls the lack of connectivity in some Bay State towns “a national embarrassment.”
chusetts Economic Development Council, Rick Sullivan said the EDC has long taken the position — even before COVID-19 made it a more press- ing issue — that the state needs to bring internet connectivity into every city and town. He noted that Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration started building the backbone, and the Baker adminis- tration has been diligent in making sure com- munities get financing to execute plans to bring broadband to their residents.
“For a lot of the smaller communities, that
is probably the single biggest opportunity they have for economic development in the region,” Sullivan said. “People can choose to work from home, but they need to have the access that helps people choose to live in those communi- ties, and it makes it easier to sell your properties, and that increases values in small towns.”
But even large cities have a digital divide, he added, which has been exposed to a greater extent by COVID-19.
Tantillo noted that, according to Census data from last year, 31% of households in Springfield have no internet access, and 37% don’t even have a computer. That means no remote work, no remote education, no telehealth, no ... well, the list goes on.
These digital-divide issue arose during a pub- lic hearing last week in Springfield on the reli- censing of Comcast. “Parts of Springfield need better connection,” Sullivan said. “The mayor was clear in his opening statements that this was an issue they would be taking a look at. But in every city and town, there are some connectivity issues that clearly need to be addressed.”
Learning Lessons
Yves Salomon-Fernández, president of Green- field Community College (GCC), understood
the need for connectivity before students began attending classes remotely last spring, but that move more clearly exposed the scope of the issue.
“The digital divide is real, especially in certain areas of Franklin County and in the hilltowns. Even in the city of Greenfield, there are places with spotty internet access, and with all of us being on Zoom right now, it slows down the con-
nectivity we have for our faculty, staff, and stu- dents,” she added, noting that GCC had to pur- chase technology for many of them to teach and learn remotely.
“We also have students who are housing-inse- cure and may not have access to the internet. We gave them a hotspot if they have no cellphone service, and we have accommodated them on campus in various ways.”
She noted that even parts of the GCC campus contain dead zones where cellphones won’t work; the college has a phone tree set up for emergency alerts because cellular connectivity isn’t a given everywhere.
“If the college, a critical institution and a community asset, has these issues,” she said, “imagine what it’s like for small businesses and individuals.”
The flawed vaccine rollout in Massachusetts (see story on page 40) has laid bare another impact of the digital divide: access to vaccination appointments. Even if the state’s website wasn’t confusing or prone to crashing early on, Lesser said, it still wasn’t acceptable to make it the only option to sign up, which is why he and other leg- islators have pushed for a phone option, which was implented last month.
“You were pretty much shutting out a whole community of people, especially the 75-and- older category, when you set up a system that’s website-only,” he noted.
But vaccine distribution will be completed over the coming months; what won’t change
are the other reasons people need to access the internet from home. Solving the issue won’t be easy with the patchwork of different levels of responsibility — towns, the state, FCC regulators
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