By South River EMC Executive Vice President & CEO Chris M. Spears

While the pandemic has shone a bright light on the need for expanded rural broadband, the issue is something that we in rural areas have prioritized for many years. As your CEO, I am grateful that more than $140 million in state and federal funding has recently been awarded to connect unserved and underserved rural residents in our state. It is critical that rural broadband expand quickly, efficiently and fairly – and that as grant funding creates a new market for broadband providers in our communities, we join together to reject efforts by for-profit special interests that would shift costs to North Carolina’s rural consumers.

Rural communities have long awaited high speed connections because for-profit cable providers have been unwilling to invest in broadband infrastructure in sparsely populated areas.

Despite that challenge, electric cooperatives for years have supported efforts to close the digital divide by exploring local solutions and facilitating expansion of access to broadband providers to utility poles quickly and at a fair rate.  South River EMC is in complete support of the expansion of broadband. A couple years ago, we conducted a feasibility study to determine the possibility of entering into the broadband market for our service area. Unfortunately, the results determined that the expansion into the broadband marketplace would put an incredible financial strain on the Cooperative and has the potential to increase electric costs. Therefore, we have chosen not to enter into this venture. However, we do support local efforts to expand broadband accessibility in a fair and equitable manner.  

Unfortunately, with the backing of a Fortune 100, for-profit cable company, a bill has been filed in the North Carolina legislature that would shift costs to “make ready” utility poles for new broadband infrastructure to electric co-ops and their members. Should this bill pass, special interests would receive more funding for their shareholders at the expense of rural consumers and further burden the very people who expanded rural broadband is intended to help.

This proposed policy is wrong. Not-for-profit co-ops – and their members – should not be expected to subsidize broadband deployment costs, especially after more than $140 million in funding has been awarded for broadband expansion in North Carolina.

This policy also breaks precedent. In January, the Federal Communications Commission declined to issue the cost-shifting rules that the special interests seek, noting that the issue is complex and requires more thoughtful consideration.

It is in the best interest of rural people and communities to ensure that new federal and state funding is applied as intended to cover expanded access, and that rural co-op members are not burdened with unfair costs.

As not-for-profit, community-owned organizations, electric cooperatives remain focused on keeping costs as low as possible for members and supporting efforts that bring opportunity and prosperity to our communities. Deploying broadband is no exception.

We look forward to seeing broadband access extend to unserved areas in North Carolina. We will continue to work with policy makers and those who are deploying broadband to ensure that access is expanded to our entire state, while advocating against policy changes that could burden rural consumers with unfair costs.