Ayumi Fukuda Bennett from SouthernAlpha
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers will be in Hazard, Ky., on Aug. 31 to be part of the kickoff event to launch the construction of a statewide broadband network. The event and demonstration will take place at the Hazard Technical and Community College.
The plans to begin construction of the high-speed internet service has been in place for some time. But the statewide project, KentuckyWired, got a firm stamp of approval when Gov. Beshear signed an executive order last week creating the Kentucky Communications 
Network Authority, a governing board that will oversee the construction of the network involving 3,000 miles of fiber instructure.
Several studies over the last two years ranked the Bluegrass State among the worst states for adequate internet speed access. Perhaps you remember a May 2014 segment from HBO’s Last Week Tonight, where host John Oliver mocked the state’s lack of internet access. While the numbers and the exact definition of ‘access’ are somewhat disputed, around 23 percent of Kentucky residents either do not have access to any internet or have connection that cannot be considered as adequate for the modern times.
Research (or a simple look-up of a data-visualization U.S. map of broadband availability) also found that those who lacked any broadband lived mostly in the eastern region of the state. The construction of this high-speed network will first be prioritized on the 73 counties that are part of SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region), a fairly recent initiative backed by legislation that aims to improve the overall economic infrastructure of the traditionally underserved region. Upon completion of this three-year process, this ‘open-access’ network will be in all 120 counties, with an internet speed of up to 100 gigabits per second.
Obviously, this major undertaking requires more than a plan. The cost estimate of this major project is around $300 million, but the state will be only be funding $30 million of the cost (from their bonds). The Kentucky govemment has actually formed a public-private partnership with Macquarie Capital, an Australian-based investment firm who will oversee the fiber construction and foot most of the cost of this initiative. Macquarie does have a 30-year contract with the state to operate and maintain the network, but the state will have ownership of the actual structure. Federal grants and private funds will pay for additional costs.
While the actual cost of the service for the resident has not been released, the infrastructure itself is much needed in the state of Kentucky, especially in order to truly execute their hopeful plans for eastern Kentucky.
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