When the signal drops, so do sales: Maine business owners need connections

The Maine Connectivity Authority is working to ensure all residents have access to broadband and cellular, as well as the skills and devices they need to use them.

Small businesses sit at the heart of towns like Harrison, offering the jobs, services, goods and gathering spaces that local communities need. To thrive, these businesses — and the towns that depend on them — need regular access to customers, suppliers and each other. They need connectivity.

But connectivity is hard for Harrison businesses when the center of town itself has poor cell service, said Selectman Philip Devlin, who has lived in town for 10 years and been on the Board of Selectmen for four. Service in the village is spotty, and the poor connections have real consequences.

“I’ve heard the same thing from all the businesses — about it being harder to attract business and get people to stay in the village when there isn’t good connectivity or people can’t get a phone call,” Devlin said.

Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA), the public agency leading statewide expansion of high-speed internet and digital opportunity, is working to help. This year, MCA mapped 6,500 miles of road to document cellular service. This work is an important step toward ensuring all Maine people have the digital connectivity that’s essential for work, healthcare, education and civic life.

“Reliable connectivity isn’t optional. It’s essential infrastructure for strengthening Maine’s workforce and helping Maine’s small businesses to be competitive,” said David Bresnahan, Senior Grants & Programs Manager, who is leading the work to create Maine’s Cellular and Wireless Action Plan.

When MCA was founded in 2021, more than 100,000 Maine homes and businesses had insufficient internet connections or none at all. In four years, MCA worked with government agencies, Maine businesses and local organizations to improve or establish connectivity for 120,000 locations statewide.

Today, MCA is working to ensure all Maine people not only have access to broadband and cellular connections but also have the digital skills, devices and other resources they need to effectively use them. Residents of rural communities and small businesses still face real barriers, but targeted solutions help them to overcome those obstacles.

“Maine’s broadband investment is delivering results across the state. Now we need to focus on making sure everyone can fully use and benefit from it, from online job applications to reaching new customers,” said Jessica Perez, Senior Digital Opportunity Manager. “Digital opportunity is about turning connectivity into real results for people and communities.”

MCA believes that providing digital opportunity is how Maine protects its broadband investment, ensuring infrastructure delivers real, visible results for people today, while finishing the job for those still left behind. Indeed, connectivity only matters if Maine people can actually use it in their daily lives and if small businesses across the state can leverage it to sustain their growth.

In today’s economy, the difference between having digital skills and not having them often is the difference between having a job and being unemployed. Nine in 10 Maine jobs require digital skills, according to research from the National Skills Coalition, and when workers move from a job that requires no digital skills to one that requires just one digital skill, they typically get a 23% increase in wages.

Helping Maine’s small business sector and Maine people effectively connect with one another is vital for communities like Harrison, Devlin said.

“Here, it’s all very small businesses. There are no very large corporations in town,” Devlin said. “If we can do things to help small businesses be successful, we want to take advantage of that.”

Meet the author
Kendra Jo Grindle is the Chief Program Officer at Maine Connectivity Authority.

Kendra Jo has crafted a career focused on working alongside rural communities. At Maine Connectivity Authority, Kendra Jo collaborates directly with communities to make sure they have the information they need and are on a path towards achieving their identified goals.