Dear Community Leader/Elected Official:

 The Public Service Commission invites public comment regarding the Broadband Assessment Program to study the availability, affordability, and adoption of residential and commercial broadband internet access across New York State. The purpose of the study is to help determine what steps are needed to ensure that all of New York’s consumers have access to the internet, as needed.

To ensure full public participation, the Commission will hold a series of virtual public statement hearings from February 23 to March 3, 2022, to solicit input and comments from your community. Any participant not able to register or login to the hearing electronically may participate by phone. Any person wishing to provide a public statement at the hearings must pre-register by 5:00 p.m. the day before the hearing they wish to attend.

Use the links below to register for a hearing:

February 23, 2022

February 24, 2022

Topics for public comment include but are not limited to: broadband internet service locations that offer a speed of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream while 1 Mbps upstream is not available; locations that provide an internet download speed of more than 25 Mbps but are less than 100 Mbps upstream; barriers to access of services such as high costs; locations where there is only one broadband internet service provider, and reasons why some consumers prefer to use wireless mobile service instead of the wired broadband service.

Additional details on how to participate at the public hearings and how to submit comments are available in the Notice of Public Statement Hearings. Information about the case can be found on the case page (21-02182) on www.dps.ny.gov website or at www.empirestatebroadband.com.

I would appreciate your assistance with informing your constituents about the public statement hearings and encouraging them to provide comments. It is the Commission’s intent to facilitate and encourage active and meaningful participation throughout all of its proceedings. We hope you will consider joining us.