The Great Internet Divide: ISPs, electrical co-ups mull rural school push

Two months ago, Gov. Eric Greitens traveled to two rural Missouri towns to announce something special. Aiming to bring reliable internet access to all rural Missouri schools, the Show-Me State governor announced $45 million in statewide funding to back his goal.

Once completed, it would be the first time in state history broadband internet access is available at every school in the state, according to a news release.

Greitens’ team worked with private-sector partners, the state legislature and the federal government to secure the infrastructure funding. The state House and Senate appropriated $6 million in this year’s budget for the project and Greitens plans to unlock $39 million in matching federal E-Rate funds.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, the Schools and Libraries program, also known as the E-rate program, makes telecommunications and information services more affordable for schools and libraries in America. Mandated by Congress in 1996 and implemented by the FCC in 1997, E-rate provides discounted telecommunications, internet access and internal connections to eligible schools and libraries funded by the Universal Service Fund.

Now, Missouri internet service providers and electric cooperatives aren’t speculating which provider could be selected to complete the project, but wondering how it will get done – and what it would cost. Greitens’ press secretary Parker Briden didn’t respond to requests for comment or an update on the initiative.

Jim McCarty, director of communications for the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, isn’t sure where the project is headed and he’s not alone. Locally, Travis Allen, founder and president of Nixa-based Total Highspeed LLC, wasn’t aware of the governor’s initiative until reached by Springfield Business Journal. Nevertheless, Allen said the project sounds like something Total Highspeed would be interested in, though they’ve never completed anything similar.

“We cover about 20 counties in Missouri, so we’d certainly be able to connect a lot of schools,” Allen said, noting Total Highspeed’s coverage area reaches as far as Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Carthage, Camdenton and Mountain View using both wireless and wired infrastructure.

Currently, nonexistent infrastructure prevents more than 100 Missouri school districts from access to quality internet, according to the governor’s release. The investment would fund broadband internet through fiber optic connections, something McCarty calls the gold standard.

“It’s the absolute best you can get,” McCarty said. “It’s just cost prohibitive.”

Allen’s Total Highspeed recently began installing fiber optics, but said installing the networks at schools could mean spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“It’s going to be astronomical. Fiber can cost $20,000 a mile. So, say a school is 10 miles from the nearest cyber connection – that’s going to cost $200,000 at least,” he said. “And that’s for running it. That’s not including the electronics and the maintenance.”

For rural schools, Allen believes wireless infrastructure makes more sense.
 
“You could build a tower and bridge that whole 10-mile gap for $30,000,” he said. “It’s a heck of a lot cheaper.”

But White River Valley Electric Cooperative CEO Chris Hamon isn’t so sure. The southwest Missouri co-op’s coverage area stretches across the Ozark hills, serving Christian, Douglas, Ozark, Stone and Taney counties.

“If you don’t hardwire it, the hills will mess it up. Wireless can be hard because it can’t propagate very well,” he said. “You have to make sure you’re in the line of sight. Foliage really interferes with it, too.”

McCarty notes beyond internet, wireless already is a challenge for other uses.

“In many parts of rural Missouri, you barely have cellphone service,” he said.

While no one would dispute fiber optic as the end goal, Allen said wireless could be an improvement on outdated systems.

“There’s a lot of slow technologies that some schools probably still have,” Allen said. “There’s T1 for example. T1 is 1.5 megabits. It’s designed to be reliable, but it’s too slow.”

For perspective, consider other options geared toward companies. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) invested more than $70 million in Springfield-area wireless and wired networks over the past three years, including nearly 70 wireless network upgrades, according to SBJ archives. Last month, the telecommunications company announced it would expand its 1-gigabit broadband service to homes in the Springfield area. Mediacom Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: MCCC) also recently launched a $1 billion, three-year commitment to expand the company’s 1-gigabit broadband service. Locally, that means 2,000 buildings identified as Mediacom targets.

“(Schools) might have three T1s for example, and that would be 4.5 megabits, but they’re expensive, too,” Allen said. “One T1 can cost anywhere from $300 to $500 a month.

“I’ve heard of some school districts having satellite internet, and I can’t even imagine what that would be like.”

Beyond schools, Allen said the rural push could be good for Total Highspeed overall, connecting areas he’d like to expand into.

“Our bread and butter is [serving] rural places out in the country where there’s not other good options,” he said. “Other consumers in the same area might want to get our services as well.

“That benefits schools, too, because then the students that go to those schools would be able to have better internet for their home.”

Allen estimates a large project could add 20 new jobs to his business, depending on how many schools Total Highspeed would work on if selected, as well as the terms of the deal, such as if they would be responsible for simply securing a connection or maintaining the connections, as well.

Others, such as White River Valley, don’t plan to take part in a bidding process, adding most of the schools in its coverage area already have reliable internet. Hamon does believe the initiative would need to be pursued by several separate entities to work.

However it gets done, McCarty is glad the governor remembered Missouri’s rural residents. “Anything that brings together that divide is a good thing,” he said.


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