Cathy Cash

According to co-op leaders, synergies between electric service and fiber broadband at cooperatives are improving safety, reliability, and even workplace culture. “Electric co-ops deploying fiber broadband for future-proof high-speed internet and grid communications are reporting wide-ranging benefits that are serving their members’ needs now and into the future,” said National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Broadband Director Cliff Johnson. At Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, safety improvements were a primary goal when it launched a b

NRECA is urging the Trump administration to update federal broadband policies and programs to better support rural America’s access to high-speed internet and strengthen the economy, public safety, health and education. In letters to several new Trump administration officials—Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr—NRECA outlined how the federal government can empower co-ops to provide rural broadband by reforming key programs, regulations and funding mechanisms.

Arkansas distribution cooperatives are celebrating building future-proof fiber optic broadband access to more than 1 million rural residents within seven years. “No longer does a person have to live in a metropolitan area to have access to lightning-fast internet service,” said Vernon “Buddy” Hasten, president/CEO of Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp.