Jackson Mayor Derek Dobies joined WKHM, as he does every Wednesday. This week, downtown internet connectivity was discussed.

Mayor Dobies said, “Downtown businesses have their own internet through some of the service providers that we have. We really want to make downtown a hub of activity, and allow for different ways and different groups of people to access it. A lot of people come downtown to use the library and the internet access at the library, and we’re kind of taking a look at what that means across the entire downtown with free wifi for the downtown area. we’re kind of exploring that now, and we’re taking a look at it. I think the affordability is an issue as well for a lot of people. The library has somewhere around 200 of those hotspots that they allow to be checked out at the library and those are always checked out by individuals for access to the internet. I think it’s incumbent on us to take look at what other communities are doing and see if there’s a solution that works for Jackson to not only attract businesses and make ourselves more marketable as a community, but also help those that are low to moderate income afford high-speed internet.”