Last-Minute Challenge Slows Broadband Rollout in Rural Louisiana Community

Source: 
Author: 
Coverage Type: 

A last-minute challenge has stalled broadband installation in a poor northeastern Louisiana community that Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) used as a backdrop for the July 25 launch of 67 grants to extend high-speed Internet to underserved rural communities. The effort to quash the successful bid for East Carroll Parish claims that about two-thirds of the homes set to get internet access are already being served. It’s just one of 26 complaints statewide that threaten to delay the delivery of high-speed Internet to about 400,000 people in rural Louisiana. Work in the East Carroll community, which was due to start, has been halted. “We expected some challenges. We didn’t expect as many as we got,” said State Rep. Daryl Deshotel (R-Marksville) who sponsored the bill establishing Louisiana's broadband program. Some of the challenges Rep Deshotel has seen involve existing providers who claim to already be providing rural households with fast enough internet speeds to meet the criteria. After a challenge was filed against the winning bidder in the municipality of Avoyelles, Rep Deshotel urged businesses and homes to test the speeds they were getting from the company, which opposed the winning bid. Only 7% reported speeds close to what the challenging company said it had already deployed the sites that would be maintained under the grant, Rep Deshotel said. “Exaggeration is a good word,” he said.


Last-Minute Challenge Slows Broadband Rollout in Rural Louisiana Community East Carroll Parish, Louisiana: A forgotten community takes control of its digital future (Connect Humanity)