BANGOR – Maine needs to get serious about bringing high-speed Internet service to homes and businesses throughout the state, according to business owners, telecommunications representatives and elected officials at a conference Wednesday at the Spectacular Event Center.

At “A Broadband Symposium: Connecting Maine’s Future,” sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, Eastern Maine Development Corp. and the Bangor Daily News, local businesses discussed their need for advanced technology and the costs associated with it. Government officials responded with programs designed to aid in lowering those costs.

The program’s speakers told the 150-member audience that Maine’s economic future depends on fast, high-capacity, reliable Internet connection.

“If the data highway is here, we will be too. If not, we can rely on investments being made outside of Maine,” said Jim Page, president and CEO of James W. Sewall Co., a geographic mapping and forestry consulting company with headquarters in Old Town.

Broadband, or high-speed, high-capacity Internet service, connects businesses and customers but it comes at a hefty price. Transmitted on bandwidth channels, broadband is used to transmit electronic text, voice and video files. Broadband Internet access is much faster than dial-up access.

A panel of local business leaders described their Internet networking needs and frustrations. Deborah Carey-Johnson, CEO of Eastern Maine Medical Center, said broadband can assist in connecting patients and health care providers more frequently and without the hassle of office visits.

“Technology can help support health care for chronic care needs and prevention with early detection and treatment,” Carey-Johnson said. When asked, she gave the example of a diabetic patient e-mailing blood sugar and vital signs to a nurse or doctor and receiving feedback quickly. Video equipment can allow doctors to view patients and participate in their care from a distance, she said.

Steve Lambert, chief technology officer at James W. Sewall Co., said generic broadband connections are too slow for the needs of his business. With such a connection, it takes 705 seconds to transmit a scanned photo, he said, and 2,833 seconds to transmit a digital photo. Lambert said his business depends on being able to send photo and map files to customers.

“We want to deliver products such that their value is not compromised by the limitations of the delivery system,” Lambert said.

Peggy Daigle, Old Town city manager, said the expense of high-quality connections affects all businesses in Maine and rural areas are often out of touch.

“We don’t have a level playing field across the state,” Daigle said. “People should be able to make a living where they choose to live, not choose to live where they can make a living.”

Brian Booher, information technology specialist at Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit research lab in Bar Harbor, said the high capacity broadband circuits the facility requires can cost up to $50,000 per month. As a company that relies on competitive grant funding, Jackson Lab is concerned to see competitors in other states receiving more bandwidth more cheaply, Booher said.

Shirley Manning, president of Lincolnville Telephone Co., said her company has set up payment programs with businesses in order to lower monthly costs. Manning said broadband access is a matter of cost rather than the infrastructure, or equipment required to support connections.

“You can get anything you want; it’s just going to cost you,” Manning said.

Jill Goldthwait, director of the office of government relations at the Jackson Lab, said businesses should approach elected officials for help, but bring along proposed solutions, not just problems.

Kurt Adams, chair of the state Public Utilities Commission, said legislators are uncertain of the role of government in solving the problem of broadband’s cost and availability. Gov. Baldacci’s Connect Maine initiative, which aims to supply 90 percent of Maine communities with broadband access by 2010 and 100 percent of Maine communities with wireless service by 2008, has no funding, Adams said.

“Legislators have to show up next session understanding how important broadband is,” Adams said.

Jonathan Claffey, the deputy assistant administrator of telecommunications at USDA Rural Development in Washington, D.C., presented federal government financing programs for providing broadband connections to businesses and public schools, libraries, law enforcement groups, tribes and cooperative organizations in rural communities of fewer than 20,000 people.

Loans and grants are available to cover the costs of construction, improvement and acquisition of broadband services , Claffey said.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins encouraged businesses to apply for the federal loan programs.

“The stakes are high and the rewards of meeting this challenge are great,” Collins said.

More information on the USDA Rural Development loans can be found on its Web site: www.rurdev.usda.gov/me.