Dear Fellow New Yorker,

If you’re reading this on a screen, you deserve powerful Internet access.

Broadband is one of today’s most transformative innovations—on par with historic breakthroughs such as running water, electricity and the interstate highway system. Broadband refers to wide bandwidth data transmission, and this technology enables the fastest, most reliable Internet access service available today. It’s overwhelmingly important to a myriad of tasks in the 21st century, from banking to schoolwork to telemedicine and business—yet too many in New York lack access.

That’s why we are launching #Broadband4All, a campaign to rally support for our plan to ensure broadband access for all New Yorkers.

Click here to see the transformative plan and how you can help.

Here’s the plan in broad strokes:

• Matching private-sector investments: A $500 million dollar broadband fund that will lead to $1 billion in public-private investment. If passed by the legislature, this would be the largest state investment in universal broadband deployment in the country.
• Unprecedented broadband speed: Broadband providers must deliver access speeds of 100 Mbps, with funding priority given to those delivering the highest speeds at the lowest cost. In limited cases, providers may offer 25 Mbps rates to exceptionally remote unserved and underserved areas of the state, more than three times the current standard, scalable to 100 Mbps or more.
• Local input to guide development: Each Regional Economic Development Council will submit a comprehensive plan to the State that: 1) identifies unserved and underserved areas; 2) aggregates demand across residential, institutional and business sectors; 3) details the most cost-effective means to provide universal access; and 4) leverages state-owned assets where possible.

Having powerful Internet access has become a necessity in today’s world, but in communities across the state—both rural and urban—there is a broadband gap that is leaving New Yorkers behind. This is a problem that impacts everything from businesses to hospitals and schools. We need to make a bold investment in broadband, one that ensures that every New Yorker has access to fast, reliable Internet by the end of 2018. By implementing this proposal, we can lay the foundation for a stronger and more competitive New York years into the future.Please click here and help us make #Broadband4All a reality.

Ensuring universal broadband access is the critical infrastructure project of our age. Whether it’s for our education, our personal lives, or our work, access to high-speed Internet is no longer a luxury in today’s world—it is a necessity.

Sincerely,

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo