DeSoto spending $10M to extend high-speed Internet

By , Special to The Daily Memphian Updated: July 31, 2022 4:00 AM CT | Published: July 31, 2022 4:00 AM CT

DeSoto County is getting ready to spend up to $10 million to subsidize the extension of high-speed Internet to households that don’t have adequate access to the information highway. 

The latest survey of residences revealed 3,758 households don’t have access to broadband or are underserved, meaning download speeds of less than 100 Mbps. 

A year ago, the number was 5,018 households, with 69,458 household addresses evaluated. 


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While an extension of Internet service by providers accounted for the drop, for-profit companies still aren’t going to get service to outlying households unless there’s financial gain. 

And yet, the Internet has become a critical tool for accessing education, health care and other essentials of daily living. During the height of the pandemic, the importance of broadband became especially apparent as millions sheltered in their homes. 

The $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package signed by President Joe Biden last year became one funding source to finally get broadband to island households with no service. The methodical process to get to those islands is taking time.

Meanwhile, Christie Barclay, the county’s community resource director, takes calls every week from homeowners at places like Bankston Road in Nesbit and Honey Ridge Drive in Cockrum. 


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“They ask, ‘What can I do?’” 

Barclay shrugged her shoulders. 

“Hot spots,” she tells them. 

“But for people like along (Miss.) 305, cell service is terrible. They hardly have any bars,” Barclay said. “When you don’t have good cell service to begin with, you can’t support a laptop.” 

Xfinity, C-Spire and AT&T provide Internet service in DeSoto County. Northcentral Connect, an outgrowth of Northcentral Electric Cooperative, is a new provider. 

District 4 Supervisor Lee Caldwell has been working on bettering access to high-speed Internet in DeSoto County for a decade. In a survey this summer of 70,397 residences, more households in her district were unserved or underserved by broadband than in any other district. 

That’s a swatch of land generally west of Southaven and Hernando. 


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“These are kind of like the last-mile citizens,” Caldwell said. 

Barclay, hired by the county about two years ago, conducted the household broadband analysis with the help of interns. She just finished the latest one. 

Now she’s evaluating which providers are closest to the various households that aren’t adequately served — and how close. 

The distance can be miles. 

“We’re still going to bring them broadband one way or another,” Barclay said. 

Several months ago, a Northcentral Connect official said it was costing the company $65,000 a mile to extend fiber optic cable for Internet access. 

The information Barclay gathers will be provided to Waggoner Engineering, hired by the county to help with broadband deployment. In several months, a bidding process will be launched for Internet service providers to offer proposals to get those households access. 


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The $10 million pool of money will not pay all the associated costs, only for the extra cost associated with extending equipment to far-flung households. 

And it won’t pay for actual Internet services incurred by individuals. 

“We’re hoping before the end of the year, we’ll have contracts,” Barclay said. 

Officials hope they don’t have to spend all $10 million, Caldwell said. But on the other hand, the county is reaching out for grant opportunities in case it takes more. 

“It’s the information highways,” Caldwell said. “You need it for education, not only for public school students but home school kids … and college kids and others who want to take online classes, and tele-health.” 

Topics

DeSoto County Lee Caldwell broadband
Toni Lepeska

Toni Lepeska

Toni Lepeska is a freelance reporter for The Daily Memphian. The 34-year veteran of newspaper journalism is an award-winning essayist and covers a diversity of topics, always seeking to reveal the human story behind the news. Toni, who grew up in Cayce, Mississippi, is a graduate of the University of Mississippi. To learn more, visit tonilepeska.com

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