Broadband comes to the Panhandle

Gulf County welcomed the 21st century with open arms last week.

At a press conference last Friday in Bristol, regional economic development and elected officials announced that the Florida Rural Broadband Alliance (FRBA) had been awarded nearly $24 million to install a network to provide high speed internet, or broadband, access to an eight-county region in the Panhandle.

The grant is part of the Recovery Act Investments Stimulus Package signed into law in 2009, by President Obama, in hopes to jumpstart the nation’s economy, create or save jobs and to address problems that may have been long-neglected in smaller communities.

Gulf County, along with seven other counties in the Northwest Florida and several counties in South Central Florida have been included in this project aimed at providing broadband access to improve education, public health and economic development opportunities.

"We are going to change the way economic development is done in rural communities forever," said Rick Marcum, executive director of Opportunity Florida.

The project will place the "middle mile" of infrastructure to link large scale service providers with local, retail service providers, opening small rural communities to the rest of the world.

The FRBA is comprised of two state-designated Rural Areas of Critical Economic Concern (RACECs), one in South Central Florida, the second in the Panhandle. These two RACECs make up 20 percent of the land in Florida, however only 39 percent of the population in those counties currently has access to broadband.

With the announcement of broadband capabilities, these areas will be catapulted into the 21st century and have the resources needed to compete economically with companies around the world.

Congressman Allen Boyd (D-North Florida) compared this announcement to similar problems that rural communities have overcome in the past.

Boyd said 100 years ago companies would search for communities to develop their businesses in that had a good road system or good schools. If you fast-forward to even a few decades ago, companies were looking for areas with good electricity and telephone capabilities. Today, companies look for all of the above, plus broadband.

"If you don’t have it, you're left out in the cold," said Boyd.

During a time that many of these counties are hurting due to the economy and the lack of revenue caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill this announcement brings hope to many that new jobs and opportunities will open for residents in need of a boost.

"Not only will every individual have an opportunity to access broadband  at home, but I think it will absolutely bring more companies to the area and could provide some much needed job opportunities," said Susan Estes, grants coordinator for Opportunity Florida.

Broadband capability will also provide residents with state-of-the-art healthcare by opening a portal of information sharing in seconds as many medical records are stored electronically.

Doctors will be able to send and receive information from hospitals around the world. In minutes, doctors will be able to send x-rays across the world and have the opportunity to get feedback from other doctors in the medical field and decide if there is immediate danger.

"Adding the ‘Middle Mile’ will improve healthcare access for our residents and that is a priority for each of our eight counties," said Vicki Montford, board secretary for Opportunity Florida. "Connecting our businesses to the world accelerates our ability to participate in the global economy."

Local businesses will be able to utilize and have access to so much more information than standard dial-up services.

Even grants from the government are being submitted online and according to Towan Kopinsky, Gulf County grant writer, without broadband they would not be able to compete for those grants.

This "Middle Mile" infrastructure will attempt to provide numerous benefits in almost every aspect of economic development from individual use to world-wide companies.

"With this grant our economic development efforts will take a giant leap forward," said Marcum. "It's going to take a long time to get this smile off my face."