Deploy Dark Fibers To Meet Broadband Need, Policy Makers Say in Zoom Call

by Kayode Crown

Deploying unused fiber optics already in the ground may bridge the digital divide in Mississippi, guests at a virtual town hall organized by Rep. Debra Gibbs, D-Jackson, said. The state legislator said she organized the event to proffer solutions to internet access problems because they affect the state’s progress. “We are working to ensure that our children and families have access to reliable service as it relates to the internet,” she said.

“The pandemic was not something that we made, but it did put a light on the fact that we have people in our state, in our district that do not have access to the internet,” Gibbs added. “So as policymakers, I know we are going to continue to do our part. Hopefully, we are going to get internet service providers to work with us with viable solutions so that our (constituents) don’t feel like we are just talking in that regard.”

Scott Bounds, a Neshoba County Republican and the chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, also emphasized the importance of internet service. “There is nothing that is on the mind of people, especially people in the rural areas, as broadband access,” he said. “This day and time, broadband is almost as critical as electricity.”

“You just hardly can function in a household without (it), especially if you have kids, especially with the situation that pandemic has created where we are having to do distance learning, where we are having to do virtual learning, where we have to work from home,” Bounds added. “The need for rural broadband access has definitely been highlighted by the pandemic.”

Scott said the Legislature passed House Bill 1788—Mississippi Pandemic Response Broadband Availability Act— which he co-sponsored with Rep. Kabir Karriem, D-Columbus, in the last legislative session.

“We allocated $50 million for the school districts, to contract, to go out on their own. The Legislature said these districts know more what their needs are, what is available in their area as far as broadband access for these students and these schools to be able to access broadband,” Bounds explained.

He projected that Mississippi will follow other states’ examples by setting up a broadband grant program while noting that broadband expansion is both expensive and time-consuming.

“We will be examining and looking, this coming session, closely at a statesponsored broadband grant program,” Bounds said. “Alabama has done a program very successfully, Tennessee has done it, where the money is put into a fund and is defined that it’s got to go to the unserved areas first. Companies will apply for these dollars.”

Bounds said the Legislature could decide to allow leasing of fiber to a company like AT&T, Comcast or C Spire. “(But) there are some nuances that’s got to be worked out on that,” he added.

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