Michael McKee reported in a Bloomberg TV segment that Maine internet speeds are drastically slower than in other parts of the country.
McKee said that internet speeds in Maine are measured at approximately 9 megabytes per second (Mb/s), as opposed to in New York where internet speed is around 150 Mb/s.
The problem, according to McKee, is that Maine’s population is too sparse for internet providers to make a profit in providing access to higher speeds. The panelists in the Bloomberg segment agreed that the speeds are comparable to developing countries.
“The problem of course for Maine is that it retards business development and growth because businesses don’t want to locate there,” he said. “[Businesses] don’t necessarily want to stay if they can’t get that kind of high speed internet.”
This segment comes shortly after news in August that the town of Rockport had used public money to create its own fiber-optic internet network to overcome the slow internet speeds that hampered local businesses.
