Back in October, officials from Dixie Electric announced a pilot program for DE Fastlink, a new high-speed Internet service that brought broadband Internet to thousands of residents in rural areas of Dixie Electric’s seven-county service area.
That initiative got another jumpstart earlier this month, when Chairman Dane Maxwell of the Mississippi Public Service Commission formally signed an order releasing $21.4 million to bring DE Fastlink to more than 30,000 members’ homes and businesses – including parts of Petal. Work to bring the service to Petal is expected to begin this summer moving south down Mississippi 42, and DE Fastlink should reach the city proper in late summer or early fall.
“We’re very excited to bring high-speed Internet all across our service area,” said Lydia Walters, communication and human resources manager for Dixie Electric. “Petal will benefit from it, but really all across our seven-county service area will benefit from it.
“DE Fastlink will put in a high-speed Internet system backed by fiber optic cable; we have plans to install approximately 3,000 miles plus of fiber optic cable across our service area. Fiber optic cable is the most dependable technology for delivering high-speed Internet.”
Dixie Electric participated last year in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I Auction Process, where it was awarded the $21.4 million. The service is now approved as a designated Eligible Telecommunications Carrier, which allows DE Fastlink to accept the funds.
“We had to be certified as a telecommunications carrier in order for us to receive the money,” Walters said. “The money is actually from the (Federal Communications Commission) as a grant in their Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, so it was a grant that will be given to us over a 10-year period.
“Chairman Maxwell had to certify us in order for us to receive the grant money, so that’s what he did.”
The DE Fastlink project will last for the next four or five years and will serve rural areas from north of Laurel to south of Petal and Richton. To see a map of the service areas, along with dates of expected installation, visit https://bit.ly/3npyah1.
Pricing begins at $64.95 per month for residential packages and $79.95 per month for business packages. Package pricing and more information about the project can be found online at www.defastlink.net.
“It’ll be aerial fiber to the home; it should be high-speed, fiber optic network, which will be constructed on Dixie Electric’s electrical distribution system,” Dixie Electric general manager Randy Smith said in an earlier story. “We’ll be able to offer speeds of 100 megabits to 1,000 megabits, and Internet service will be symmetrical, meaning your upload speeds will match your download speeds.”
The cost for DE Fastlink to provide high-speed Internet to Dixie Electric’s entire service territory will be approximately $125 million. In addition to the funding already obtained, management will be looking for other opportunities for grant funding and/or low interest loans.
“Eighty-plus years ago, rural America was in need of electric power, so cooperatives were formed with the purpose of going in to rural areas where it may or may not be profitable to do so, but to supply the much-needed service at the time,” Walters said. “Now, fast forward 80 years later, we live in a digital world, and that world requires high-speed, reliable Internet service. So we’re living out the values of who we are as a cooperative, to bring high-speed Internet to rural areas. To do that, we’re really benefiting the quality of life of citizens in our area.”
DE Fastlink’s pilot program was announced on Oct. 24 at Dixie Electric’s annual meeting, after the organization received funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, an stimulus bill issued in response to the economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. That project allowed for the installation of 206 miles of aerial fiber to approximately 1,400 homes and small businesses in and around Richton, Ovett and Runnelstown.
DE Fastlink was made possible by an amendment to Dixie Electric’s Certification of Incorporation, which previously allowed only for the sale of electricity. Board members passed the amendment with a 96% majority, well past the 60% needed for approval.
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April 27, 2021 at 03:49AM
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