County receives broadband funds

LINCOLN COUNTY – Washington State’s Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) recently awarded Lincoln County a broadband construction grant. With a unanimous vote from CERB, Lincoln County was awarded a $2 million grant to start the first fiber build.

The grant comes after the county applied earlier this year. That application passed the required threshold, and representatives from the county were invited to present “Connecting Lincoln County” to CERB July 14.

Petrichor Broadband will handle management of the network provide publicly operated high-speed middle mile fiber from Wilbur to Almira and last mile connection in Almira, Creston and Harrington.

The project is predicted to begin sometime next spring as efforts to provide either fiber or wireless, usable broadband continue throughout rural Washington and Lincoln County.

The connection desire appears critical as remote work steers toward a higher reality, but many businesses still struggle with broadband connection.

A 2018 survey conducted by the Economic Development Council surveyed 59 businesses here, and just 18 found their Internet connection to be adequate, while most complained about slow upload speeds.

In 2020, half of county city halls reportedly struggled to provide Zoom connection fast enough for effective virtual communication according to EDC data, while many schools wrestled with the move to online school while reaching its rural students who had no Internet at home.