MILTON MUNICIPAL FIBER INITIATIVE
Why is broadband so important?
It's the year 2020 and the Digital Age has only just begun. One way to describe broadband's importance is to imagine a rapidly transforming global economy that requires connectivity to prosper, and how people and communities with sub-par internet access will fare in that world. Not well, we'd imagine.
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Access to a fiber-based broadband network is crucial connecting to and participating in the emerging Digital Age, just as a century ago access to electricity was crucial to people and communities to participate in the Electrical Age.
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To illustrate the importance of broadband in our lives today consider the historical analogy of electricity.
Like electricity a century ago, broadband is a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life. It is enabling entire new industries and unlocking vast new possibilities for existing ones. It is changing how we educate children, deliver health care, manage energy, ensure public safety, engage government, and access, organize and disseminate knowledge."
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Over a century ago electricity was a new technology rapidly transforming our society. More than just illuminating homes and businesses, electricity spawned new industries delivering a huge variety of new products...which in turn further transformed American society.
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But the transformation only happened after local communities fought the power company monopolies and transformed electricity from a privilege for the few into an infrastructure for the many.
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Broadband is the 21st century version of electricity, poised to transform our economy and culture. But only after it's universally accessible and affordable to all.
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You can read more about the historical electricity/broadband comparison here.
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The future of broadband is about more than viewing television, surfing the Web and making phone calls. It is about new forms of communication and mass collaboration through the virtually unlimited potential for sharing information, storage capacity, processing power and software made possible through high-capacity bandwidth connections. This collaboration will generate new ideas, accelerate economic development and lead to opportunities for wealth creation, social development and personal expression.
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