Kentucky lawmakers still dubious about rural fiber-optic broadband project that hasn't delivered on its promises

"The much-heralded plan to improve internet connectivity across the state, promised to create financial opportunities through reliable, high-speed internet access for rural communities that have repeatedly been hammered by the loss of jobs in the coal and tobacco industries," the Louisville Courier Journal's Alfred Miller reports with ProPublica's Local Reporting Network. "But the project is stalled and its future looks increasingly bleak because of a number of missteps by state officials and Macquarie Capital, the Australian investment bank managing the ambitious plan."

The project, already two years behind schedule, could cost $1.5 billion over the next 30 years, Miller reports. Kentucky's new governor, Democrat Andy Beshear, will soon have to make important decisions about the future of the program, but he hasn't said what he plans to do yet, even as state lawmakers threaten to block funding. "Meanwhile, the project that promised so much to residents in rural communities has yet to deliver, and it’s unclear if and when it will," Miller reports.

The KentuckyWired project aims to bring high-tech jobs and entrepreneurship to impoverished rural counties where jobs are often hard to come by. It was scheduled to be completed nine months from now, but right now "one in 11 Kentuckians — roughly 405,000 mostly rural residents — have no wired broadband service in their area, according to Federal Communications Commission data. For those who do have internet access, it’s either too slow or simply unaffordable," Miller reports.

Part of the problem is that the steep hills and forests in much of Kentucky make fiber-optic cable difficult and expensive to install. The other problem is the "last mile." Even if the state lays fiber-optic cable to rural areas, it's not feasible to lay it to every home. Instead, homes and businesses will need third-party providers to lay fiber-optic cable to connect them to the local hub. But, many third-party providers "are reluctant to make plans without first knowing how much the state’s private-sector partner, Macquarie, will charge for access to the network," Miller reports.

Project managers want the state legislature to approve $100 million for KentuckyWired in the new budget, $28 million more than in the last budget. But lawmakers are frustrated by the program's slow implementation and ballooning costs, especially since their rural constituents are clamoring for broadband access, Miller reports.

State Sen. Jimmy Higdon, a Republican from Lebanon, said something needs to give. "Unless somebody in the Beshear administration can come up with a plan to save it — a viable plan, a workable plan — and somebody steps up and says this will work, I don’t see us funding something that’s going down a dead-end street," he told Miller.