The state of South Carolina is also benefiting from millions of dollars in funds dedicated to expanding broadband to all residents. Overall, South Carolina has received almost 16 million dollars. Officials say this is a great way for citizens to actually see where the money from the Recovery Act is going and how it is affecting their lives.
The money will be used to expand internet access at 16 state technical colleges in addition to being used elsewhere. The money will also help fund the purchase of more than 2,000 new computers in order to expand 51 public computer centers and create 19 new computer labs. This will allow the number of users to double from 17,000 per week to more than 38,000 users. In short, this will help residents with more opportunities for education and improving job skills. In turn, that can help draw down unemployment numbers as South Carolinians gain new skills and have better ways of finding out about job openings.
South Carolina has partnered with Connected Nation in order to do much of the work for the broadband internet expansion. The first step of the process for Connected Nation was to map the state and determine just how many people are using broadband and where more broadband support is needed.
Connected Nation has also discovered that the state of South Carolina could see an estimated $1.6 billion annual economic impact from an increase in broadband adoption. In addition, the state could save or create more than 32,000 jobs from a broadband build out. These would not only be jobs directly tied to the construction of new infrastructure, but also jobs saved in companies that can now better compete thanks to broadband services. The recent reports also found that residents will see a savings of $9.5 million in average healthcare costs. These savings come from the fact that residents can participate in telehealth where they can see a doctor over a broadband connection rather than having to be in the actual office. In addition, health care costs can be streamlined when using the internet. Residents will also be able to save about $93 million in gas mileage costs thanks to teleworking and online shopping. Another advantage to not driving as much will also be to the environment. With fewer cars on the road, carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by more than 47 million pounds per year.
Currently, South Carolina has some work to do in order to catch up with the rest of the nation in terms of broadband use. While 67% of Americans subscribe to broadband, a recent study found that only 62% of South Carolinians subscribe to the same service. The numbers are even worse in the rural regions of the state where only 46% or rural South Carolina residents subscribe to broadband. In addition, while eight out of ten South Carolina citizens have a computer those who don’t have broadband believe that they don’t need it or haven’t investigated enough to see if service is available where they live.
