Ricketts OKs Bill to Expand High-Speed Internet in Nebraska

Nebraska will provide $20 million a year in grant funding to expand high-speed internet service across the state under a new law approved Wednesday.

Gov. Pete Ricketts signed the measure, Legislative Bill 388, at the Capitol, saying it would expand broadband so that more Nebraskans can work from home, participate in remote learning, access telehealth service and enjoy other benefits.

“In our digital world, high-speed broadband internet is basic infrastructure we need to grow our entire state,” Ricketts said in a news release. “Thank you to the Legislature for helping to grow Nebraska by investing in our broadband infrastructure.”

The law is designed to bring fast, reliable broadband service to an expected 30,000 households. Networks funded by the grant program will be required to have upload and download speeds of 1000 megabytes per second.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission will administer the grant program. The law requires all grant recipients to conduct randomized speed tests and submit the results to the PSC.