Study: North Central Mass. Needs More High-Speed Internet
Less than half of North Central Massachusetts businesses are using high-speed cable Internet, according to a newly released study by Fitchburg State University's Regional Economic Development Institute (REDI), signaling a need for greater access across the region.
Data collected though GIS mapping and telephone services between October 2011 and February showed that 46 percent of private for-profit and nonprofit businesses use high-speed cable modems for broadband service.
Eighteen percent reported using DSL services, while 25 percent of respondents selected "other." Most of these were using some type of T1 wireless connection, according to the study. Eleven percent of respondents reported using no type of broadband service.
The study's authors, Beverley Hollingsworth of FSU's Business Administration Department and Jane Xinxin Zhang of the Geophysical Science Department, concluded that the results indicate a preference for high-speed cable broadband by the region's businesses, and that demand will increase as business owners realize its effectiveness on operations.
Respondents reported poor access to infrastructure as the largest barrier to broadband access, according to the study.
The Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) is expected to use the REDI study to shape a statewide project aimed at improving access to high-speed Internet access to areas of Western and North Central Massachusetts, where it's lacking. The MBI is using $40 million in state bonds to make the infrastructure improvements needed to improve access.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
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