Blunt: Affordability as important as access in broadband expansion

Retiring U.S. Senator hopes to stay out of fray in selecting Republican nominee

By Buck Collier, Special Correspondent
Posted 3/2/22

HERMANN — As U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt sees it, expanding internet access to rural Missouri will take place, but making it available to everyone at a reasonable price will be the real challenge.

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Blunt: Affordability as important as access in broadband expansion

Retiring U.S. Senator hopes to stay out of fray in selecting Republican nominee

Posted

HERMANN — As U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt sees it, expanding internet access to rural Missouri will take place, but making it available to everyone at a reasonable price will be the real challenge.

With money available for expansion in the federal infrastructure law as well as the American Rescue Plan Act, Blunt said he is confident the goal of increasing access will be met.

“We’re going to get there on broadband,” Blunt said last week during a roundtable discussion with Hermann-area business and government leaders. Missouri’s senior senator spent about 30 minutes in Hermann last Tuesday before heading to Jefferson City for a gathering that night and an appearance the next day before the Missouri General Assembly.

But the key to enabling residents of rural areas to take advantage of increased access lies in the monthly bill they’ll pay for the service.

“The next thing we’re going to have to focus on is affordability,” Blunt said. He suggested that internet service might have to be treated the same way that electricity and telephone service were made available to rural areas — through a regulatory process.

“Access to broadband is  just as important as (access to) the telephone,” the senator said.

Indeed, as Gasconade County Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel, R-Hermann, pointed out to the senator, the cost of installing the infrastructure — the poles and the lines — needed for expanding internet will be quite large. He said expansion into the more remote areas with few residents is “really a moot point” unless the service providers can be assured of making a profit. That might mean receiving assistance of some kind from the federal and state governments, he said.

Miskel in recent months participated in an ad hoc committee of the Meramec Regional Planning Commission that has been examining possible ways to expand broadband service in the 8-county region. He noted that internet providers told the panel that taking the steps necessary to expand access would be prohibitive on their part.

But the need to expand internet access in Gasconade County in particular was brought to light by the coronavirus pandemic that prompted school districts such as Gasconade County R-1 to offer a hybrid of in-class instruction and remote learning for students. For a substantial number of students opting for remote learning, the program fell short in part because of the lack of high-speed internet service in the more-remote areas of the district.  The lack of access remains evident with students living in those areas relying on the use of sometimes unreliable Wi-Fi hotspot devices to complete their homework assignments on their laptop computers.

The roundtable discussion was sponsored by the Hermann-Area Chamber of Commerce and held in the Chamber’s conference room in the city’s historic firehouse on Market Street (Highway 19). Along with Miskel, other local officials taking part in the event included Hermann Mayor Bruce Cox, R-1 Superintendent Geoff Neill and Hermann Alderman Susan Lenger.

Blunt also spoke about funding in the infrastructure law aimed at increasing the movement of products on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. “There are more miles of navigable water in the Mississippi River valley than anywhere in the world,” Blunt said.

He also said communities along the Amtrak system should benefit from efforts to rejuvenate passenger rail service.

“There’s a lot of money (in the infrastructure bill) for  passenger rail,” Blunt said. “I think there’s going to be a revitalization of passenger rail, so that will work well for here.”

Capping a public service career that began in 1984 with his election as Missouri Secretary of State, Blunt is hoping to ease into retirement without being drawn into the fray that’s developed within the Missouri GOP regarding the upcoming primary for his Senate seat. Asked if he’s going to endorse one of the several Republicans running, Blunt smiled and said, “I hope not, not before the primary (election). I’d prefer not to get involved.”

Junior Sen. Josh Hawley caused waves within the state’s GOP recently when he endorsed Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler in the GOP primary campaign, a move aimed at keeping the nomination out of the hands of former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned amid scandal in 2018. The endorsement of Hartzler drew sharp criticism from Congressman Billy Long of Southwest Missouri, who said Hawley days earlier indicated to Long he would not be making an endorsement. Long also is seeking the Republican nomination, as is Attorney General Eric Schmidt.