Digital Innovation: Electric cooperatives' fiber expansion growing daily
Mar. 2—A little more than five years ago, the Mississippi Legislature passed the Broadband Enabling Act to help close the large digital divide in the rural areas of the state.
The legislation allowed electric cooperatives to lay fiber for the first time, paving the way for high-speed internet service. Since then 17 electric co-ops, including Tombigbee Electric, formed subsidiaries to offer the services. But it was not an inexpensive decision for the co-ops to make, and they looked for a little help to jumpstart their efforts.
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