According to Lincoln County planners, nearly everyone agrees reliable internet access is a requirement for everything from education to health care and economic development, but in rural areas, it’s still a problem.

This was the topic of the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission’s Jan. 19 workshop, “Broadband in Lincoln County: Where we are, where we want to go, and why,” at the commission’s office on Bath Road. Many municipal leaders, school officials, broadband providers and other industry professionals were invited.

According to information presented at the workshop, great strides have been made in some Lincoln County towns, but in others, access is practically nonexistent; large commercial broadband merchants don’t want to lay the expensive cable or fiber to reach only a few dozen properties, without help.

Maine’s ConnectME program provides planning tips and grants for towns to expand broadband. Grants are awarded based on a point system for a project plan, determining how the needs and gaps in a community could be met, a network design, how the town would impact the process by ordinances and policies, and how to serve as many people as possible, through affordable equipment, digital literacy training for families and businesses, and public access to computers. Added points come from showing how digital access could improve economic development and employment, government services, public safety, health care and education.

However, according to ConnectMe representatives at the workshop, the grants aren’t typically enough to get the whole project funded, and they said for small communities far from the nearest internet hub, the cost rises dramatically. Another problem arises when a company lays down cable or fiber, but does not continue into a community beyond the school or library. Any new company would have to start at a junction where the new company already has service, and re-lay fiber from that point, for about $25,000 per mile.

Participants said another option is to provide repeating Wi-Fi, by putting small boxes on telephone poles. Each box can repeat a Wi-Fi signal for up to a mile if not blocked by land or vegetation. The cost for this is high as well; towns could invest in the repeaters and charge users for the access.

One example of a successful ConnectME grant occurred in Waldoboro, where 41 percent of the costs of access to much of the north part of the town, about 350 possible connections, was funded. Participants said the rest of the funding came from other sources, including private and town funds. The project cost $275,000. Much of the town already had broadband, so adding the miles was not as onerous as it would be in a town with no connection at all, or a town such as Southport where a provider elected not to go into private properties.

Several broadband providers at the meeting explained their role in providing access in several towns, including LCI of Nobleboro and Axiom Technologies, as well as ConnectME. Some also explained the need to include digital education.