Indiana receives $868 million to expand broadband internet to rural areas

ARLINGTON, In. — It's about an hour's drive from Indy to get to the small town of Arlington, Indiana, in Rush County.

It's where you'll find Denise Whiteside waving her phone in the air.

"You have to kind of roam around to try to get the service," Whiteside said.

It's a daily reality for Whiteside and her husband.

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Since she moved from suburban Indianapolis to rural Indiana, Whiteside has come to appreciate the little things she may have taken for granted.

"I miss being able to rewind TV," she said. "I miss being able to get on the internet and search things and not have to wait. In our house now, we have maybe one bar, or can't get service."

Not far from where Whiteside lives, you'll find the Arlington General Store.

When the already-hit-or-miss service fails, Manjit Kaur cannot process credit or debit card sales on her store's computers, which can literally bring business to a hault.

"We have to lock the door or we put signs up that say, 'Internet Down.' We can't take cards, credit cards," Kaur said.

In Indianapolis, Chief Broadband Officer Steve Cox runs the Indiana Broadband Office, a division of the Indiana Office of Technology.

Cox says approximately 175,000 homes and businesses in Indiana still do not have adequate connectivity; he calls it a problem primarily across rural Indiana.

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He has heard it repeatedly from people in areas that may not even have access to high-speed internet, including Rush, Fayette, and Franklin counties.

"Oftentimes, we hear stories where kids have to go to a McDonalds parking lot to connect to get service to do their homework," Cox said.

"It's probably difficult for you to work from home, have your kids do e-learning activities, have multiple devices connected to the internet, to be able to do a zoom meeting, or even to stream a show on Netflix or anything like that."

People who live in underserved or unserved areas can face challenges applying for jobs online, doing remote work, and accessing telehealth care, among other things.

Change is coming.

The federal "Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment" program, or "BEAD", is divvying more than $42 billion among states across the country.

Indiana's share amounts to $868 million to ensure every Hoosier has access to high-speed, reliable, affordable broadband service.

Cox says the state has created a 5-year action plan to use the BEAD program money.

Starting this fall, internet service providers can bid on project areas to build infrastructure and offer service.

The companies that win the bids have up to 4 years to finish their projects.

However, since the BEAD program is spread across all 50 states, a lack of manpower and supply chain issues could cause delays, according to Cox.

It can't come soon enough for people like Denise Whiteside, who wants to be connected --- and business owners, like Manjit Kaur, who just wants to keep her doors open.