86-1101.

Broadband telecommunications service; legislative intent.

The Legislature finds and declares that:

(1) The availability, quality, and affordability of broadband telecommunications service is important to the residents of Nebraska; and

(2) Because availability, quality, and affordability of broadband telecommunications service is lacking in certain rural areas in Nebraska, combined with greater investment in urban areas, the state may be facing a digital divide.

It is the intent of the Legislature that broadband telecommunications service in rural areas of the state should be comparable in download and upload speed and price to urban areas in the state where possible and that state resources should be utilized to ensure that the rural residents of the state should not be penalized simply because of their rural residence. It is further the intent of the Legislature that the residents of this state should have access to broadband telecommunications service at a minimum download speed of one hundred megabits per second and a minimum upload speed of one hundred megabits per second.