Mississippi Electric Cooperatives Get $65 Million for Rural Broadband Through CARES Act

Fifteen Mississippi rural electric cooperatives have won a combined total of $65 million in rural broadband funding through the CARES Act passed earlier in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The money came indirectly through the state, which carved out $75 million for rural broadband from a larger pool of funding it received through the act. The rural electric cooperatives must spend the funding they were awarded before the end of the year and must invest an additional $65 million of their own in the broadband projects.

All states were awarded funding through the CARES Act and given some flexibility in how to use it, explained Jonathan Chambers, founder of Conexon, a consultancy that worked with seven of the 15 rural electric cooperatives on their funding applications. But according to Chambers, only a few states opted to use any of their funding for rural broadband and Mississippi devoted more money to broadband than most of those other states.

The formal name for the Mississippi rural broadband funding program is Broadband COVID-19 Grant Program. In formulating plans for the program, Mississippi legislators, the governor’s office and the state public service commission had discussions about how to structure a program and “rural electric cooperatives stepped up,” Chambers said.