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AARP Indiana supports Indiana Connectivity program, bolstering broadband’s reach into rural areas



Mike Johnson, a cattle farmer and retired agriculture teacher, is a former county Farm Bureau president and says the lack of high-speed Internet ranked as one of his community’s top concerns. Without a fast connection, residents struggled to make decisions on crop sales and to keep in touch with loved ones. Photo provided

Mike Johnson, a cattle farmer and retired agriculture teacher, is a former county Farm Bureau president and says the lack of high-speed Internet ranked as one of his community’s top concerns. Without a fast connection, residents struggled to make decisions on crop sales and to keep in touch with loved ones. Photo provided

During the four years Mike Johnson was Farm Bureau president in Floyd County, the lack of high-speed Internet ranked as one of his community’s top concerns. Without a fast connection, residents struggled to make decisions on crop sales and to keep in touch with loved ones on FaceTime or Zoom.

“The farmers and people out in the rural areas tried to get service,” says Johnson, 71. “But unless a subdivision was going in, no providers seemed to care.” While there’s been progress — thanks to a range of federal, state, local and private investments — hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers still go without access.

Supporters of expansion, including AARP, hope that $65 billion set aside for high- speed Internet (aka broadband) in last year’s federal bipartisan infrastructure bill can finally close the country’s digital divide.

The bulk of the bill’s money for broadband — about $42.5 billion — is for states, territories and Washington, D.C. Each state will receive at least $100 million, with the balance allocated by need. Indiana could see more than $1.1 billion, according to an estimate from New York Law School.

Estimates of the number of Hoosiers with no access range from 261,000, per the Federal Communications Commission, to more than triple that number, according to a report by data aggregator BroadbandNow. And those figures don’t include people who have high-speed access but cannot afford the service.

States have started planning their broadband investments, and consumers could start seeing improvements next year.