Katie Kocijanski is reporting in the Register-Star F. Michael Tucker, the president and CEO of the Columbia Economic Development Corporation, recently updated the Columbia County Broadband Sub-committee on the internet provider mapping project. A series of three preliminary maps have been created by Stockport-based cartographer Don Meltz Planning and GIS. The providers identified in the maps are Mid-Hudson Cable, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision/Optimum, GTel Teleconnections, FairPoint Communications, Verizon New York, Frontier Communications and Lightower. The county currently has 36,000 residents considered to be underserved or unserved by the existing internet providers. Hillsdale Town Supervisor Peter Cipkowski is optimistic about the future of internet accessibility in the county. He sees broadband as the foundation for economic growth countywide and a necessary utility. Cipkowski said he is grateful to the state for its broadband initiative. The program "gives businesses incentive to choose from multiple providers and options in the future,” he said. Read the full story in the Register-Star.