State Laws Slow Down High-Speed Internet for Rural America

Electric cooperatives want to help bridge the digital divide between rural and urban America as more federal funding becomes available for rural broadband. Mississippi is among the states that rely most heavily on rural electric cooperatives, nonprofits that deliver power to their members in rural areas. Yet since 1942, Mississippi state law has restricted its cooperatives to working in electric services -- a 77-year-old law may prevent Mississippi from fully tapping into millions of new federal dollars to expand high-speed internet service to needy rural communities. Its legislature is expected to take up bills that challenge the state law and the role of electric cooperatives early in its session that began on Jan. 8.

Beyond Mississippi, electric cooperatives in other states also face barriers: Georgia’s electric cooperatives are considering expanding into broadband, but state law does not address whether they can. Tennessee’s electric cooperatives had been barred from offering internet services to their members until the Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act passed in 2017. But they’re unable to invest assets from electricity services into broadband expansion or offer broadband outside their coverage area without local permission. And in North Carolina, a state law prohibits electric cooperatives from using USDA funds to provide telecommunications services. As more cooperatives across the country provide internet services to their members, or consider expanding their roles, the ability to compete for federal funding becomes more important. Mississippi’s hurdle might be cleared quickly with new state legislation, but its conundrum illustrates the challenges rural states often face in keeping up with economy-boosting technology and the ability to pay for it.