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Mississippi uses first stimulus bill funds to create a 'broadband miracle':
When Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and lawmakers in the Mississippi legislature got $1.2 billion in federal money from the first stimulus bill in March, they decided to do something different. They used a portion of the funds to supercharge the rollout of high-speed broadband to the most underserved areas of the state in an effort to close the digital divide.
They went to rural electric co-ops -- private, independent electric utilities owned by the members they serve -- many of which were left gobsmacked by the offer, according to David O'Bryan, general manager of Delta Electric Power Association, which now serves Carroll and Grenada counties with broadband. Many of these co-ops had been preparing to deploy networks but lacked the cash to begin a major project, especially in the most remote and sparsely populated parts of their territories.
The result has been an acceleration in broadband deployment that could make Mississippi one of the most connected states in the nation within the next five to six years. That's a huge leap for the state, which last year ranked 42 out of 50 in BroadbandNow's 2020 connectivity rankings. The Federal Communications Commission says that at least 35% of rural Mississippians lack access to broadband.
[...] While a majority of the state's 25 electric co-ops had already done feasibility studies and were preparing for their broadband rollout, the urgency level spiked once the coronavirus pandemic hit. It shuttered schools and forced students to learn remotely via the internet. It closed businesses, leaving those who had jobs that didn't require in-person contact to work remotely. It forced health care providers to accelerate the delivery of telehealth services to minimize exposure to the deadly virus.
"Literally overnight broadband became an essential service," O'Bryan said.
So when the federal government sent states their portion of the $2 trillion CARES Act relief funds, Mississippi lawmakers decided to set some aside for rural broadband deployment.
[...] In total, 15 electric co-ops ended up receiving $65 million in grants from the CARES Act. But in a Brewster's Millions-like twist, these co-ops had to agree to spend it by the end of the year. This was a tall order considering it gave these companies only six months to deploy their networks.
And so began a mad dash in Mississippi to deploy high-speed broadband.
[...] Barnes said that before the CARES Act money was allocated, the company's plan was to deploy fiber in its more densely populated suburban markets, where the company knew it could sign up more customers. This is a similar strategy to what for-profit broadband providers, like Google and Verizon, had done in other parts of the country.
[...] The federal grant dramatically changed its strategy and timeline.
[...] "Electric co-ops have a can-do attitude," he said. "We know how to cut through red tape." He said being owned by their customers forces co-ops to have a more service-oriented perspective.
"We know if we don't do a good job, they'll turn over our board and get someone else," he said. "It's a model that has worked for 80 years."
[...] Barnes said the deployment of the CARES Act money, coupled with the policy changes by the legislature, proves that electric co-ops are up to the challenge and will get the job done if given the chance.
"In five months, we did what the incumbent telecom providers hadn't done in their entire existence for these underserved communities," he said. "The faster lawmakers can get us the money, the faster we can build the networks and get the economy going."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by EEMac on Friday February 26 2021, @02:57PM (5 children)
Co-op and municipal broadband have a history of delivering high speed, high quality, and low prices.
Yet a bunch of ACs show up to:
* piss on the idea
* pretend state-organized broadband costs just as much as telco's
* pretend remote work isn't a thing in the middle of a pandemic lockdown
I'm not saying they're shills. But if they were, how would their posts be different?
(Score: 2) by RedGreen on Friday February 26 2021, @03:37PM
"I'm not saying they're shills. But if they were, how would their posts be different? "
I will they are slimy no good shills, with just about every posting out there they infest them. I have no clue who it is that spreads all this garbage around but there is a concerted effort to poison the internet with this trash. Having spiked to an all time high in the last year or so. On every subject there is that does any good for humanity and even the useless subjects it is everywhere you look.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 26 2021, @03:51PM
This is not municipal broadband in a reasonably dense area. Rural means low density, long cable or fibre runs (in other words, won’t happen given the time constraints - the money has to be spent within months, not years), so you’re looking at wireless or internet over existing power lines.
Forget fibre. Unlike what the original article states, you can’t just hanf fibre optic cable on telephone poles and expect any sort of reliable signal. So your comment about urban and suburban co-ops and municipal projects is SO totally irrelevant it should be modded -1 Off topic.
These are reasons only 20 rural electric co-ops signed up in the first place.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday February 26 2021, @04:06PM (1 child)
The difference would be they'd be getting paid. Instead, we have a small army of useful-idiot types shilling for free.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 26 2021, @04:31PM
But in other areas of poverty, they ended up NOT getting paid. That’s the flaw in the scheme. The people get excited, sign up, fall behind in their bills and get cut off.
When most of the country has broadband, having broadband isn’t something special that will suddenly attract business investment and create well-paying jobs. So rural poverty isn’t going to drop, and may even increase as people accumulate yet more unpaid debts.
There’s not much public transit in the boonies, so if part of the household budget is siphoned of to internet, that means that in households with severe financial constraints, things like maintenance on the car are going to be deferred. That increases the likelihood of catastrophic failure and the car going to the scrap heap. Then what? No car means no job. So time to hitch a ride to a city to live.
(Score: 2) by dry on Sunday February 28 2021, @08:56AM
Well it is socialist and therefore unAmerican. Imagine the idea of the people owning the infrastructure and not caring about profit, compared to the ideal of a private company, who is actually deserving, owning the infrastructure and being able to milk all the profit that can be milked.