COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina electric cooperatives today urged federal regulators to ensure internet providers deliver on promises to bring high-speed internet access to rural areas. The push comes after some providers won a portion of the $20.4 billion in federal grants that included new requirements to meet the needs of unserved and underserved areas.
The Federal Communications Commission is managing the distribution of money from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund as a next step in “bridging the digital divide” between Americans who do and those who do not have access to the internet at sufficient speeds to meet modern day needs.
“To be clear, our main goal is to ensure access for rural areas and to look out for our members,” said Paul Basha, CEO of York Electric Cooperative. “I think all the co-ops agree with that sentiment, whether they are partnering with an existing provider, or they have established an internet company, or they are not involved directly in the business.”
Several cooperatives are stringing fiber optic cable for two reasons. First, high-speed fiber connecting electricity substations and control rooms provides real-time communications, which helps improve the electricity delivery system. Second, with fiber’s huge bandwidth, there’s room on the glass strands to provide other data services such as internet access.
Some electric cooperatives have established internet businesses, while others have partnered with existing telecommunications providers to deliver broadband service. Since the cooperatives provide electricity to many rural areas, the existing power poles in those areas can also hold the fiber optic cable, as long as the cooperatives are compensated for the use of their poles.
Keith Avery, CEO of Newberry Electric Cooperative, believes previous efforts to support rural broadband access have come up short.
“A quirk in the rules left many rural residents shortchanged,” said Avery. “If only a single home in a census block had access to broadband, the FCC considered the entire census block to be served and off limits to other providers. It’s an unfortunate construct that has been a disservice to millions of rural Americans.”
“We expect regulators to ensure that the winners actually deliver on their promises for access at every home,” Basha said.
The funding, called the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, was established by the Federal Communications Commission to encourage expansion of high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved areas. Phase I of the auction targeted census blocks that are entirely unserved by voice and broadband with download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps). The second phase targeted underserved census blocks, meaning those that are partially served.
Access is one important thing. Speed is another. Most internet users would not consider 25 Mbps to be adequate in the third decade of the 21st century. As an example, a two-hour movie would download in roughly 20 minutes at 25 Mbps and four minutes at 100 Mbps, though various factors could affect the time.
Electric cooperatives have urged regulators to build for the future, not the present.
“That’s been the problem in the past. Providers got loans and grants and built the minimum, and by the time it was built, it was almost obsolete,” Avery said.
Nationally, electric cooperatives have advocated that the FCC review the details of RDOF Phase I auction awards to ensure bidders can deliver high-speed internet service to unserved rural Americans.
“Some of the largest winners in this RDOF auction prevailed despite submitting bids that use unproven technologies to accomplish the goal of connecting rural communities,” said Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).
Co-op leaders note that there is little they can do for people in areas where winning bidders fail to deliver broadband service. Those people could be left to receive inferior service for the next several years if inadequate facilities are constructed.
NRECA and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative this week sent a letter and white paper to the FCC detailing the shortfalls of some RDOF award winners and suggesting how the agency might move forward if it determines that bidders cannot not fulfill their commitments.
NRECA also supports a National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) proposed resolution urging the FCC to scrutinize RDOF award winners. The resolution is expected to be discussed February 10 during the NARUC winter meeting.
So far, seven South Carolina electric cooperatives are directly or indirectly involved in the internet business. Mid-Carolina, Newberry and Aiken electric cooperatives will build a fiber optic system to many electric cooperative-served homes through their internet cooperative, Carolina Connect.
Lynches River Electric Cooperative formed the RiverNet Connect subsidiary, and Tri-County Electric Cooperative formed its TriCoLink subsidiary.
Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative is stringing fiber across its network of power poles and has partnered with Western Carolina Telephone Cooperative’s WC Fiber subsidiary to connect homes and businesses to the poles. York Electric Cooperative developed an arrangement with Rock Hill-based Comporium Communications in which York installs the fiber across its system, and Comporium connects the fiber and internet service to the home.
Some electric cooperatives are studying whether to provide internet service, and still others have chosen not to do so because area providers are meeting the needs.
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The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc. is the state association of independent, member-owned electric cooperatives. Through 800,000 accounts, more than 1.5 million South Carolinians in all 46 counties use power provided by electric cooperatives. Together, electric cooperatives operate the state’s largest electric power system with 75,000 miles of power lines. Find more information at www.ecsc.org.
