Help is on the Way for Rural Arizona: More Broadband

In what will be very helpful for health care patients, students, teachers, and other rural residents in Arizona, the Grand Canyon State will receive close to $200 million in Federal Communications Commission Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I Auction Grants.

These monies, according to the office of Arizona Congressional District One House Representative Tom O’Halleran, will go toward “building high-speed broadband networks in 129,445 locations throughout Arizona.”

The benefits to rural telehealth and Pre K-Higher Education institutions, especially during a pandemic, will be immense to bridging the digital divide in the rural parts of the Grand Canyon State.

Commenting on this positive development, Representative O’Halleran stated:

“This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the urgent need to address the dire inadequacy of access to quality broadband in rural communities, as families increasingly rely on the internet to work, learn, and receive health care safely,” said O’Halleran. “I am pleased that the FCC heeded my urgent request to connect more rural families to the high-speed internet they need, and I will continue to provide oversight of the FCC as we take important steps toward closing the digital divide in Arizona.”

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman also praised the broadband grants for Rural Arizona, relaying to Blog for Arizona:

“I am thrilled that Arizona will be receiving a significant investment to help close the digital divide in the rural areas of our state. The need for distance learning this year has exposed a long-standing inequity in our state between families who can easily connect to the internet and those who cannot. I’m thankful for the leadership of Representative O’Halleran, and look forward to continued collaboration with our entire congressional delegation to connect all of Arizona’s students and families to the internet.”

Rural communities in Arizona and across the country need vital assistance to thrive and connect with the other parts of the region and nation.

Increasing high-speed broadband will help accomplish that.

Hopefully, more funding will come in later phases to complete connecting the rural parts of the Grand Canyon State and the Country to everywhere else and finally erasing the digital divide.