Welch touts broadband efforts during Addison visit

ADDISON, Vt. (WCAX) - Homeowners in Addison County are celebrating a new connection to the 21st century.

Recent broadband hookups in homes in the region have been possible because of a flood of federal investment.

Senator Peter Welch Friday toured a Champlain Valley Telecom facility to highlight the investments. Welch chairs the Subcommittee on Rural Development and heard this week from a Vermont telecommunications company. In a divided Congress, he says more funding for broadband is a rare bipartisan issue.

“The big policy question is, we want to have this high-speed internet that has the best technology in infrastructure so that five, 10, 15 years from now we don’t find we’re lagging behind,” he said.

The Senator says funding is only half the battle and that Congress also needs to invest in workforce training programs.

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