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Nebraska survey shows rural broadband still lags
A new survey of broadband internet use in Nebraska shows that 81 percent of Nebraska households have Internet service—and three-fourths of them are using broadband.
As you might expect, however, the percentage of those with broadband service in outstate Nebraska is lower than it is for Omaha and Lincoln. For example only 56 percent of those Internet users surveyed in central Nebraska had broadband service.
Survey research manager Becky Vogt with the Center for Applied Rural Innovation says for some rural households, broadband is a cost issue, but for roughly 40 percent of them, it’s still a matter of availability.
“When we look deeper into some of those groups that did have lower rates of broadband subscribership—especially that central Nebraska region—there 42 percent said that it was not available,” Vogt says, “and that was the one group where availability did seem to stand out.”
The Nebraska survey is part of a broadband mapping project being funded by the federal government. Regional forums are planned later this year to discuss the survey results and begin efforts to boost broadband access to group which are currently underserved.
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