Leonard Witt: Sandwich broadband exemplifies federal, local cooperation

To The Daily Sun,

When U.S. Congressman Chris Pappas came to the Sandwich Town Hall recently to announce a $1.65 million grant toward construction of Sandwich's new high-speed fiber-optic broadband network, he demonstrated the vital interconnection between rural communities and the federal government.

The Sandwich Broadband Advisory Committee’s chair Julie Dolan said recently the all-volunteer committee fulfilled its 2019 mission: “To determine how every Sandwich household and business can enjoy fast, reliable broadband service at an affordable price.”

She added that the town “currently relies almost exclusively on deteriorating, unreliable and painfully slow DSL. Sandwich has NO cable service anywhere in town.”

By June, Sandwich’s everyday residents, businesses, students, entrepreneurs, designers, health care workers, artists, programmers, data analysts and everyone else who needs to be connected to high speed internet – which is pretty much all of us – will be on equal footing with urban American and even the world’s high tech hubs.

Thank you to all the local activists, to the New Hampshire Electric Co-op, which listened to its members and made a commitment to high speed broadband, and yes thanks to our federal legislators Reps. Pappas and Annie Kuster and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and to President Joe Biden who understands the importance of investing in rural America’s infrastructure and its future.

Leonard Witt 

Sandwich