Allen advocates for broadband plan

BANGOR – As part of U.S. Rep. Tom Allen’s swing through the Bangor area on Sunday and Monday, he stopped Monday morning at Eastern Maine Community College to tout a bill he is introducing to help boost the development of high-speed Internet access throughout Maine.

Allen said the bill, called the Rural America Communication Expansion for the Future Act, would give companies and municipalities tax incentives for broadband Internet deployment. Consumers could expense qualified broadband expenditures including installation and connection costs, he said, and businesses deploying wireless broadband would be eligible for tax credits.

It also reauthorizes and expands existing federal broadband programs such as the Maine Broadband Telehealth Network, which has been supported by other members of Maine’s congressional delegation, including Sen. Susan Collins.

Speaking in the Advanced Technology Instruction Classroom in Katahdin Hall, Allen compared the build-out of broadband Internet technology with the expansion of the railroad across America in the 19th century and the race to land a man on the moon in the 20th century.

“The fact remains that vast areas of Maine and thousands of Maine people still do not have that access,” he said. “People and businesses that are unable to take full advantage of the mind-numbing speed of the Internet are at a disadvantage to those who can.”

Andrew Hinkley, general manager of Cornerstone Communications in Bangor and Charleston, and Susan Corbett, CEO of Axiom Technologies in Machias and president of Morning Glory Enterprises in Jonesport, also were on hand to talk about the importance of broadband development in Maine. Both Cornerstone and Axiom are Internet service providers while Morning Glory Enterprises provides online medical billing and practice management services throughout New England.

Jessica Ludders, who recently moved with her husband from North Carolina to Charleston, said her broadband connection allows her to keep her job with a community college and an online high school. She offers English courses over the Internet and communicates with her students by e-mail and phone, she said.

“That allowed me to move and I can keep teaching North Carolina students,” she said.