Kentucky Advocates for Public Policy Encouraging Infrastructure Investment

It’s not every day that you hear about agencies lobbying in support of wireless infrastructure. Our Zoning & Moaning section is filled with municipalities and residents who vehemently oppose the construction of towers. However, the Chamber Lea­dership Initiatives for Northwestern Ken­tucky, the West Kentucky Regional Chamber Alliance and the Southern Penny­rile Chamber Alliance are advocating for strong public policy that encourages infrastructure investment. The chambers of commerce in dozen of Kentucky communities recognize that this infrastructure allows for economic growth. The Eagle Post explained, “Just as important as an interstate, the broadband highway is critical to our region’s growth. Broadband technology is rapidly changing every segment of our society and affecting the way we all live and work; therefore, we must move quickly to make broadband capability improvements. Technology is evolving at such an explosive rate that it doesn’t take long to fall behind. Consider that the iPhone was introduced only seven years ago and has already evolved from 2G to cutting-edge 4G LTE technology. Additionally, the delivery of anytime, anyplace, any-device video is continuing to drive the need for even faster networks (infrastructure) to support it. Western Kentucky needs more broadband service. While almost all of the existing wireless networks in the region have been upgraded to 4G LTE, there are still far too many areas without adequate coverage.” The article goes on to encourage these chambers of commerce to build business-friendly environments so companies can invest and deploy new technology with minimal delay. “The expansion of wireless coverage requires new towers. We can and must facilitate identifying locations for these towers.”