The Utah Broadband Outreach Center in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) released an updated residential broadband map today, providing an enhanced tool to help businesses and consumers locate available services in their communities.
Over the past five years, thanks in part to the outreach center, broadband services in Utah have increased to the point of outpacing many other states. Utah holds the distinction of having the third fastest Internet speeds in the country and the fastest speeds in the West.
“Broadband is a crucial component of economic development in the state,” said Val Hale, executive director of GOED. “We want to support the state’s thriving industries, including the tech sector, and believe that our citizens will be leaders in developing the businesses and applications of the future.”
The enhanced site includes many of the features of its predecessor, including allowing users to view providers in their area by speed and technology type. Using the new map, users can also view broadband availability in relationship to where populated communities are located. The new map is also color coded by technologies so that users can differentiate between fixed wire and wireless residential service, versus cellular data services.
“Smartphone access is becoming increasingly important to Utahns, and the new map is color-coded so users can more easily find exactly what they want,” said Kelleigh Cole, director of the Utah Broadband Outreach Center. “Many Utahns are unaware of the various Internet service options available to them. This map provides exceptional detail and is a great resource to Utah residents.”
The outreach center works with industry partners to collect broadband data every six months. The team currently works with over 60 broadband providers in Utah. The map website was developed by the Utah Automated Geographic Reference Center, under the guidance of the outreach center.
“We continue to see our private sector partners make huge investments in the state which has helped us become a national leader in broadband access, even in most rural communities,” Cole said. “This infrastructure allows students to take online college classes, even in more rural areas, and supports at-home businesses that are often crucial to the economic development of rural Utah.”
The outreach center also maintains locate.utah.gov, a commercial broadband map, for business leaders and site selectors. To learn more about the outreach center’s complete resources, visit broadband.utah.gov.