Chairman Dane Maxwell of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, Southern District, announced Monday that PearlComm LLC, a Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association subsidiary, is receiving $25.7 million to help deliver faster internet to its 51,000 members in its 12-county district.
The funds are coming from the federal program Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase 1 Auction, Maxwell said, during a presentation at the PRVEPA office in Columbia. However, Maxwell said, they would continue to fight to get more money for Phase 2, which will involve $500 million for the next phase.
“We made it a mission here at PSC to push forward. I’m proud today to sign this order to give $25 million to Pearl River Valley,” Maxwell said.
Mississippi received the second-largest amount of funding from the federal government. The only other state to receive more money was California.
Maxwell said Mississippi is now leading the nation in the expansion of high-speed internet. He said they are doing that because of the relationships with PRVEPA and other utilities. While the need for high-speed internet has been an issue, it became even more obvious during the pandemic of the importance of making sure every home and business has access to it. The need to expand for reasons such as tele-med and distance learning became more prevalent.
“Every day working out of your house became commonplace because during Covid, a lot of people went home and worked out of the house. I think it is going to change the way we do business in the United States,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell said the fiber used for broadband is something that should last for three generations.
“We are excited and we are pleased to be able to do this for our memberships in rural areas,” Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association General Manager Matthew Ware said.
Ware said it would take four to five years to reach every household, but he believes by the third quarter of 2021 members will begin to receive the service.
Ware said creating a high-speed internet for its members is as big of a deal as when PRVEPA first began serving people back in 1938. He asked that the members be patient as the work begins on making it available to the more than 50,000 members.
Maxwell described the project as the biggest economic development project in Mississippi's history because it will allow people to come and live in a state with high-speed internet. He said in the 21st century, high-speed internet is a very important necessity, and he feels it is his job to be part of the state's economic development because he wants to create jobs and bring in industry.
“A lot of our industrial parks don’t have natural gas or high-speed internet. We are trying to work with economic development services to find out who doesn’t have it,” Maxwell said.
He said PSC started a program called Zap the Gap, where the commission evaluates all areas of the southern district to see if they are not served or underserved for high-speed internet, cellular service or natural gas.
President of the Marion County Economic Development Lori Watts said, “When discussing utility infrastructure for business and industry, the list used to be electricity, gas, water and sewer. Now that the list includes broadband. Not only is broadband and internet access essential for improvements in education, healthcare, and access to information, but it is absolutely essential for business and industry in today’s world. Providing that access to more locations in our rural areas opens up possibilities for business development, whether that be from startups or attracting companies into our county. Commissioner Maxwell’s and PRVEPA’s work to get the ‘fiber-rolling’ means improvement of opportunity in many ways for our businesses and residents.”
On Friday, PearlComm announced the construction schedule for Phase 1 will include the Foxworth and South Columbia areas. Construction will start in the summer and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The first members to receive service are estimated to be in September.
Construction for Columbia is expected to begin late this summer and should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022.
For more information about the fiber construction, go to the Help Center on prvepa.com. To follow the progress of the construction, people can preregister at pearlcommfiber.net. Preregistration is not a commitment for the service, but to keep the members updated on when the service will be available in their area.
