OKLAHOMA CITY — Mike Sanders, the new executive director of the State Broadband Office has a great deal of work to do.
And he doesn’t have a whole lot of time to get it done.
Sanders, a former state representative, was recently tasked as the leader of the OBO. His job is simple: get broadband – that is high-speed – internet access to
95% of the state by 2028.
Sanders will have the money – between federal and state funds, the OBO will eventually disburse more than $1.4 billion in grants for increased internet access – and he has experienced staff in place.
But while he’s working to become the state’s broadband tzar, Sanders also has to quickly build a functioning state agency that answers to both the federal and state governments and that can oversee and distribute hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds.
All in five years.
“It’s not an easy task,” Sanders said. “There wasn’t a guidebook that tells you how to build a state agency. There is no one alive that I’m aware of that knows how to build a state agency. So, we’re building from the ground up.”
A state agency tasked with expanding internet access, he said, is a new task that’s based an earlier idea. Sanders said it was similar to the rural electronification efforts in the 1930s. “This builds on previous work to connect the entire state with the economy of the 21st century,” he said.
Right now, about 850,000 Oklahomans are without access to highspeed internet.
Mike Fina, chairman of the OBO’s governing board, said expanding broadband internet is a simple idea but in reality, a complicated task. In addition to myriad internet providers, OBO officials are also working with tribal and other industry leaders to forge agreements, gather information and develop a workable plan.
“It feels like a daunting task at the moment but we have great partners,” Fina said. “There is enough broadband and fiber out there in the state to build the infrastructure that we need.”
To get there, both Fina and Sanders are taking their message on the road.
In late April the office announced it would hold meetings in 18 cities and town to gather public input for its five-year inter plan. The meetings, which began on May 8, are scheduled to continue through June 23.
Sanders said the meetings, which will be held at public libraries, give the public to ask questions and bring their concerns to the OBO staff. The meetings also give the agency the opportunity to fine-tune its broadband access map.
“We have got to know coverage areas. We have got to know where lines are. That brings in a lot of players,” he said. “We have got to look at the maps and we have got figure out where we have our holes.”
In some of those areas those gaps could be large.
According to a story published by Governing Magazine, in 39 of the state’s 77 counties – only about 13% of the household have high-speed internet access. In Oklahoma County, the state’s largest county, 94% of the households could get broadband access only records show only about 52% actually had access.
The story was similar in both Canadian County and Cleveland County – where more than 80% of the households in both counties had access to high-speed internet but only about half actually had it.
“The gap is significantly greater in rural and poor counties,” the magazine reported. “In Rogers County, just outside Tulsa, up to 93% of households have at least one broadband provider in their area but just 13% have a subscription.”
The lack of access is also a major problem to students. Governing reported that about 90% of the state’s school districts are considered partly or entirely rural and estimates show that about one of every four students don’t have access to high-speed internet access at home.
“Jones Public Schools Superintendent Carl Johnson saw that disparity in his rural eastern Oklahoma County district, especially at the height of the coronavirus pandemic last year,” the magazine reported. “The State Department of Education provided wireless hotspots for students without broadband access to use at home, but for some people it wasn’t enough.”
And even though the hotspots were distributed some families still couldn’t get access because there wasn’t reliable cell coverage in their area, Jones said.
Sanders is quick to acknowledge that gaps in internet service are everywhere in the state but he said he is committed to solve the problem.
“It’s not just a rural issue,” he said. “There are gaps all over.”
Today internet access is a necessity for education, commerce and government.
“Too many Oklahomans lack the access they need to affordable and reliable high-speed internet service,” he said.
And the pressure to improve access isn’t just coming from residents.
Fina, the board chairman, said the OBO is being pushed by both the industry and the legislature to move quickly.
“I think the Legislature would like to see us moving faster that what we actually can,” he said. “There’s this whole component of the federal government who hasn’t finished their work on broadband. And until they get all of their policies in place and until we get our (federal) funding, which is our biggest pot of funding it’s hard to move very quickly.”
Fina said the office also hears from industry leaders who say they are ready to act.
“I think they get frustrated that we’re not just handing out dollars just yet,” he said. “Without the federal policy in place we can’t hand out a whole lot of money.”
Fina said the state expects between $700,000 and $1 billion for broadband expansion. He said the agency has brought in consultants to assist in planning and to develop oversight policies for the distribution of the funds.
Still, both Sanders and Fina said the key to a successful expansion effort lies in the partnerships. “I think we are going to make major inroads,” he said. “Once people see what we’re doing, I think you are going to see that even Congress say, ‘this is a game-changer.’”