Broadband Coverage Gaps: The Rural Impact

Millions of dollars are coming into Mississippi to get more families connected to high-speed internet. But there are still major gaps in the broadband coverage map. “We had the little Wi-Fi hotspot. But in order to use the Wi-Fi hotspot, you have to have a cell phone signal. And a lot of times we didn’t have a good cell phone signal where we were. So, it just washed everything completely out. And they never did get a good reading until she got to where she is now with high-speed internet," said Nathan Case, a pastor in Brookhaven (MS). “There is a major gap in southwest Mississippi,” explained Sally Doty, the Director of the Mississippi Broadband Expansion and Accessibility Office (BEAM). “And we’re talking about totally unserved service below 100, down, and 20 up," said Doty. The biggest reason being money. “In all of these areas that are unserved, it’s because there are more rural and low-density areas,” said Doty. “So, the financial case in the past to build it out has just not been there. It’s not good economics for companies.” Research shows that Conexon isn’t the only company to get federal grant money and not yet start to build out in parts of the state. Windstream and Aristotle also won bids in the 2020 auction. The grant awards for those three companies were a total of $96 million dollars but there hasn’t been any progress to show for it.