Lorna Cherot Littleway is reporting in the Columbia Paper the Hillsdale Town Board recently heard from Columbia Connect Chairman Howard Lieberman, who encouraged town officials and residents to exert pressure on Charter Communications to provide full broadband service to the area. Currently available internet service is slow compared to the broadband service in many other parts of the state, he said. Lieberman noted the Federal Communications Commission and state regulators placed requirements for upgraded service on Charter prior to approving the company’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable, and he said there are “piles of money” available to implement full broadband service. The effort will require a public-private partnership, Lieberman opined. He added that municipalities will have to be especially vigilant because Charter will not want to invest here. According to July 2014 data from the New York State Broadband Program Office, 74 percent of county’s population is unserved by broadband of 6 megabits or more per second, which makes Columbia, and neighboring Greene County, the two worst served counties in the state. Columbia Connect is the countywide broadband task force created by the Ghent Community Action Network. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.