Gov. Phil Bryant recently signed the Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act, allowing the state’s 25 electric cooperatives to form subsidiaries offering broadband internet service and removing a ban on the member-owned utilities getting into other businesses.
However, it could take years before individual houses are connected to the internet, reported the Daily Journal, due to the high costs of creating infrastructure and the inability for companies to raise electric rates to fund the project.
For the Prentiss County Electric Power Association (PCEPA), it will cost around $25 million to provide broadband to its roughly 13,000 customers.
Four-County EPA serves 47,000 customers in all or parts of nine counties; their estimated price tag is as much as $150 million, reported the Journal.
“People think there is a magic switch we can flip now that the law was passed,” said Jon Turner, manager of marketing and public relations for Four-County Electric Power Association. “I have actually had people call and ask me when they would be getting their internet. I had to burst their bubble and tell them that if we do proceed, it’s going to be a five to ten year rollout. It will be a long and measured process.”
According to PCEPA GM Ronny Rowland, it could take 20 or more years for the power company to earn enough from internet sales to pay for that infrastructure. In order for it to be economically feasible, there have to be densely populated areas for the association to start creating the infrastructure, reported the Journal. “It is definitely feasible for us. But there won’t be a quick recoup of the money,” Rowland added.
As Gov. Phil Bryant signed the law, officials said the first of the power providers could begin offering internet service by the end of this year or early next year. But because of the nature of the problem, most rural residents will likely have the longest wait.
“The people who need it the worst – those who live the farthest out – will be the last to get it,” Turner said.
February 14, 2019
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