Across the United States, cooperatives are deploying affordable fiber to residents living in their electric footprint and beyond. Access to easements, existing customer service relationships, and direct accountability to consumers enable cooperatives to provide Gigabit speeds and beyond to residents whose alternatives are often DSL, cable, or satellite.
Just as electric cooperatives (“co-ops”) grew in a nationwide push to provide rural America with reliable electricity offered in more urban areas, co-ops have the infrastructure, expertise, and workforce needed to bring reliable, affordable broadband to rural communities. Despite initially being excluded from federal broadband grants, co-ops are now the fastest growing segment of broadband providers. Uniquely positioned to reach the same areas that are eligible for broadband grants, co-ops are directly accountable to residents and have spent decades building community trust.
As with other types of community-owned networks, cooperative broadband providers are harnessing the power of collaboration with state and local partners. Working together with other cooperatives, state agencies, and local governments helps serve communities even beyond providers’ electric footprint.
Next Century Cities penned a letter of support for Centranet, the fiber network owned by Central Rural Electric Cooperative in northern Oklahoma. As the state works to distribute nearly $800 million for broadband, co-ops who paved the way for ubiquitous electric access are well-situated to bring the benefits of universal fiber to residents who have too long remained on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Co-op broadband in communities across the US:
- Butler, Kansas | CEO: Rural Electric Subsidiary Velocity Taps FWA to Reach Unserved Areas (Doug Adams, Telecompetitor, October 18, 2023)
- Tennessee | Murfreesboro, TN Soon To Be Awash In Affordable Fiber Thanks To Local Cooperative, Google Fiber (Karl Bode, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, September 28, 2023)
- South Carolina | Cooperative Coalition Bringing Affordable Fiber Service to Rural South Carolina (Karl Bode, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, September 15, 2023)
- Maryland | Broadband/Utility Partnership Will Leverage Local Ties (Annie Lindstrom, Telecompetitor, July 12, 2023)
- Louisiana | Power Cooperative Provides New Internet Opportunities for Members (Elise Saloom, ConnectLA)
- Georgia and Florida | Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative Should Light Up First Fiber Users By August (Karl Bode, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, June 27, 2023)
- New Hampshire | Broadband service coming to more towns, boosting state’s economy (Michael Cousineau, The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester, May 23, 2023)
- Oklahoma | Broadband expansion in Oklahoma reaches major milestone (Colleen Wilson, Fox 25, May 2, 2023)
- New Mexico | Panhandle Telephone Co-op Will Build Fiber Network in Rural New Mexico With $43 Million Grant (Karl Bode, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, July 13, 2023)
