PROVIDENCE – Members of the public have until Feb. 8 to submit written comments on a digital equity plan currently under development by the R.I. Commerce Corp.
The call for comments, which opened on Tuesday, comes as R.I. Commerce furthers a Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment initiative, which has so far been released in draft form. The program draws from $108 million in funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
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The program is intended to help Rhode Island achieve affordable, universal broadband access, ideally through end-to-end fiber optic infrastructure. Per the federal funding guidelines, R.I. Commerce must also meet requirements that encourage transparency and public participation.
Under the current draft, R.I. Commerce will provide sub-grants to locations that are underserved or act as “community anchor institutions” in providing internet access, such as libraries and schools.
The proposal also allows for a “challenge process” through which communities and eligible organizations can dispute R.I. Commerce’s funding determinations. Under this process, individuals cannot directly submit a challenge and must instead go through a nonprofit or government group.
Residents may submit comments and view the full draft and supporting materials at connectri-ricom.hub.arcgis.com.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
