THE ELECTRFIER October 2021
Manager's Report
Footing the bill for broadband shouldn't fall to French Broad EMC Members. Rural North Carolina needs better access to broadband internet; all of us who live here understand that deeply. The large cable companies never considered serving any of our members outside of Mars Hill or Marshall. French Broad EMC recognized that high speed broadband was never going to be available to most of our customers in our Marshall District so our board of directors challenged our staff to find a solution.
We began applying for grants and other funding opportunities to get high speed service into our most rural areas. In the past four years, we have connected over 5,000 members to our fiber internet service and our plan is to continue to expand our service until every member has access. Without FBEMC, none of these customers would have high speed internet today regardless of what the major cable companies claim.
Recently, we have seen commercials and media from cable companies blaming the lack of rural broadband on electric utilities, including us, a rural, not-for-profit electric cooperative. Their claim is that electric cooperatives are blocking cable companies from using utility poles for broadband.
But what are those commercials not saying? That cable companies want electric cooperatives and members to foot the bill for broadband deployment.
The "old" way of doing things was that the "power" company owned about half of the poles, and the "phone" company most of the other half, with a few provided by private companies or individuals.
The cable anf Internet providers apparently feel that they should enjoy attachment rights to existing poles, without sharing the costs of installing and maintaining them, at least in this part of the Tarheel State. I invite comments about this issue, especially from those whom have negotated pole cost-sharing arrangements between Internet access providers and traditional phone or power companies.
Bill Horne Moderator