High-speed internet coverage in St. Lawrence County is roughly on par with other North Country counties but behind many other counties in more populated areas, according to state officials.

In St. Lawrence County, the amount of the population without access to 6 megabits-per-second or faster broadband service is 16 percent, presumably meaning that 84 percent of the people in the county have access to service at or above that rate.

In Franklin County, to our immediate east, the rate is 23 percent of people without 6 mbps availability; in Jefferson County, to our west, the rate is 14 percent.

The county with the lowest rate of access to high-speed service is the North Country's Hamilton County, to our southeast. In the most sparsely populated county in the state, deep in the Adirondack Park with three people per square mile, the rate without 6 mbps service is 52 percent.

The best-served areas are the more populated areas in and around New York City including the Mid-Hudson region and Long Island, where those without access to 6 mbps or better service is no higher than 6 percent of the people.

The data, from the New York Broadband Program Office, was released in conjunction with an announcement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office about an initiative to expand high speed broadband internet service in the state.

The data also show proportions of the population who don't yet have service at the much faster 100 mbps.

In St. Lawrence County, 87 percent do not have access to 100 mbps service.

In 33 of the state's 62 counties, there is no access at all to 100 mbps service, according to the state data.

Gov. Cuomo is asking for stakeholders to provide information for the initiative to set guidelines for the broadband program, the goal of which is "substantially expanding high-speed broadband service in New York State by the end of 2018," a press release from the governor's office said.

Responses are due Friday, Oct. 30. Respondents may download the Request for Information at nysbroadband.ny.gov/new-ny-rfi and email their responses to NYSBroadband@esd.ny.gov.

The availability and speed data are at https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/governor.ny.gov/files/atoms/files/StatewideBroadbandAvailabilitybyCounty.pdf