Connect Kākou
Connect Kākou, meaning ‘Connecting all of us together’, is the statewide broadband initiative, spearheaded by Governor Josh Green’s office, to ensure that communities across Hawaiʻi have access to reliable and affordable high-speed Internet().
Hawaii’s remote location requires smart, sustainable investments in Internet infrastructure. Today, more than $390 million is available to Hawaiʻi to achieve universal Internet access and digital literacy for all. Funding has been dedicated towards middle mile and last mile infrastructure developments with priority to unserved and underserved areas. This broadband investment initiative will leverage a number of major sources of federal funding, including the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund and the #InternetForAll programs, including the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.
Broadband 101
“Broadband” is short-hand for an “always-on,” high-speed Internet connection provided by a company or other entity known as an “Internet service provider” (ISP). The world is digitally connected through fiber cables that span across oceans and land, and satellites, creating multiple methods to access the Internet.
The Mail Delivery Metaphor
THE FIRST MILE: A TRANSPACIFIC JOURNEY
Every day, ships and flights arrive to our islands carrying mail from around the world that will end up in local homes and businesses. Similarly, submarine fiber cables stretch across the Pacific Ocean, traveling under water for over two thousand miles to reach our islands to deliver the internet to Hawaii’s homes and businesses.
THE MIDDLE MILE: FROM PORT TO DELIVERY PROVIDER
Mail shipments arrive at Hawaii’s docks and airports. Shipments then move to regional distribution centers for delivery, or may even require an additional flight before reaching a distribution center. Once regionally sorted, this mail is transported by road to the local destination post office. Similarly, once transpacific fiber reaches our islands, the Internet’s journey continues to Internet Service Provider equipment offices either on land through terrestrial fiber, or through a much shorter, inter-island submarine fiber system connecting all our islands.
THE LAST MILE: HOMESTRETCH
The last mile is the final leg of our mail’s journey from the post office to our front doors. At last, the mail has been delivered! Just like mail carriers fulfill delivery to our doorstep, local Internet service providers are responsible for delivering Internet to our addresses. When this fiber reaches our homes, apartment complexes, businesses, or other structures that services the public, Internet access to the home or last mile delivery is achieved.