Quality rural broadband in the works in Platte County, Nebraska

Platte County and Loup Power District have joined a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for broadband infrastructure development, investigating a public-private partnership to bring higher quality broadband to the rural area. The partnership is the brainchild of Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) Special Assistant to the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Innovation Pat Pope. Since retiring from his longtime position as the president and CEO of NPPD in February 2020, Pope has been working on rural broadband development. NPPD is also on board with the MOU. Nebraska law prohibits public power districts from selling internet to end users, but they could -- theoretically -- allow telecommunications companies to lease use of fiber-optic infrastructure owned by the power districts.