ALBANY COUNTY — About 1,000 unserved addresses in the towns of Coeymans, Berne, Westerlo, Rensselaerville, Knox, New Scotland, and Bethlehem may soon have broadband access due to over a million dollars in funding from the New York State Empire State Development Corporation.

The county announced its receipt of $1,022,607.86 in funding on Thursday, saying it will build on the $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds already allocated by Albany County for broadband infrastructure improvements.

Albany County applied for the funding through the ConnectALL Deployment Program-County Partnerships Program, which was available to counties that had already identified internet service provider partners

Last year, with help from ECC Technologies, Albany County mapped out all unserved addresses and issued a request for proposals, seeking applications from internet service providers to build out infrastructure.

The county received responses from five providers representing projects in seven towns that had been competitively graded and will now work with State Tel, Mid-Hudson, and Archtop.

The effort to be competitive for broadband is a major lift for underserved towns as they are often required to create their own maps or a list of unserved households that show the level of need more precisely than the maps created by the federal government.

As The Enterprise has previously reported, when the government assesses need, it does so on a census-block by census-block basis, where if just one household in a block has broadband it means that block is “served,” in the eyes of the government. This puts rural communities at a disadvantage because their low population densities mean their blocks cover a larger geographic area.

Hudson Valley Wireless General Manager Jason Guzzo told The Enterprise in 2020 that “many of the rural communities would already have broadband access if it were profitable for a provider to deploy service. Rural communities are typically high-cost and low-density.”

He explained that the last 1 or 2 percent of homes could require 80 percent of the cost of the whole network.

“Robust and equitable internet access is a necessity in Albany County instead of just a luxury,” said Albany County Legislature Chairwoman Joanne Cunningham in a release announcing the grant.

“With so much of our lives, information, employment, and assistance tied to the digital world, we must ensure that everyone in Albany County can connect quickly, consistently, and seamlessly,” she went on. “We are thankful to our state partners for supporting us in supporting our residents.”