Broadband help passes in South Carolina

The South Carolina General Assembly passed a bill supporters said will help get high-speed internet to hundreds of thousands of people in rural areas. The gap between cities and richer areas with good internet access and poorer, less populated areas without broadband access became even more stark over the past six months as COVID-19 pushed schools into the virtual world and made online meetings the way businesses and governments often communicate. The bill allows and gives incentives to smaller power companies and cooperatives to let internet providers provide their service alongside electric lines. Some 650,000 of the 5 million people in South Carolina don’t have access to broadband internet.

(9/24/2020)