Escambia County, Florida, chooses partner to bring broadband to rural areas, but challenges remain

Escambia County (FL) is looking back to Escambia River Electric Cooperative's (EREC) proposal to build a rural broadband network, but the unusual path the county has taken drew the objection of cable and internet provider Cox Communications on November 29. The Escambia County Commission voted November 28 4-1 to negotiate an agreement between the county and EREC to back the co-op's effort to seek a state grant to build a $24 million rural broadband network with $6 million in Escambia County American Rescue Plan Act funds. The move comes after the county sought official proposals from internet providers through its procurement office for a broadband network north of Nine Mile Road with an offer of up to $10 million in county ARPA funds. The county received four responses from Cox, NextCity, CSpire, and EREC. Escambia County has set aside $22 million from its ARPA funds to dedicate to broadband infrastructure, with $10 million for the northern half of the county and $12 million for the southern half. The commission held a special meeting to provide the county and EREC enough time to meet an early December deadline to apply for a state grant from the Department of Economic Opportunity to fund the rest of the project.