Expand Broadband

Your article “Broadband Survey Illuminates Digital Divide on Key Peninsula” (March 2021) did an excellent job highlighting the internet issues that face our community and are exacerbated by the pandemic. Reliable high-speed broadband is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity akin to a utility. It touches all of our lives economically, medically, and in terms of educational opportunity.

I am running to be on the board of Peninsula Light Co. to be an advocate for utilizing its existing infrastructures for public entities to run high-speed fiber optic cable as a public option, or a public-private cooperative.

In my 35 years on the KP, I have seen Pen Light improve its reliability through aggressive maintenance of its rights of way, expand its infrastructure through the addition of a new substation, greatly improve its communication and response time during power outages, and expand its service to include well services. These are excellent milestones we should foster and maintain.

I believe it is time for an expansion of Pen Light’s mission to play a key support role in the expansion of broadband on the Key Peninsula. I would greatly appreciate your vote as ballots arrive March 29.

Michael Cobey, Lakebay