EEI Report: Electric companies help close the broadband digital divide
Ameren Missouri is supportive of current legislation before the state's General Assembly to expand broadband internet service across Missouri and many investor-owned utilities in other states are also working to expand middle mile broadband.
A new report from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) reports that state-level partnerships are helping to expand broadband to customers in Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Virginia and West Virginia.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has changed daily routines for millions of Americans across the country," said Jennifer Jura, director of external affairs at EEI. "The sudden transformation to working and learning from home not only has reinforced the value of electricity, it also has highlighted the importance of access to affordable, reliable broadband."
A deep inequity around broadband access exists across the country, Jura said. The Federal Communications Commission estimates that there are nearly 21 million Americans who do not have access to high-speed internet. A recent study by BroadbandNow Research, however, concludes that the digital divide is much greater than that and is, in reality, closer to 42 million Americans.
This digital divide is keenly visible in the parking lots of community internet hotspots that have become the new classrooms and workspaces for people living in underserved and unserved communities. In addition, rural hospitals, already strained by the effects of the pandemic, are further constrained by the lack of high-speed service needed to provide telehealth appointments and to send and receive data-dense medical files.
"The importance of increasing access to broadband and making it universally available can be compared to the electrification of the United States, and policymakers are looking to electric companies to help bridge the gap," said Jura. "In order to provide multiple benefits to customers, electric companies are working with the communities they serve and with broadband providers to forge ahead with creative new partnerships designed to benefit everyone."
Key Points from the EEI Broadband Report:
As regulated service providers, electric companies are well-positioned to help close the digital divide.
By leveraging their existing infrastructure, electric companies can provide broadband middle mile networks linking major carriers to last mile providers, such as internet service providers (ISPs) and anchor institutions.
Electric companies long have incorporated telecommunications equipment and fiber technology into their operations—particularly in rural areas—to support communications and to provide real-time monitoring and controls for generation and transmission operations.
Allowing electric companies to provide the middle mile broadband infrastructure is a win-win for all stakeholders, particularly the residents of underserved and unserved areas.
In the latest episode of EEI's "The Current" podcast, sponsored by We Stand for Energy, Bhavani Amirthalingam, senior vice president and chief digital information officer at Ameren Services, discusses the intersection between the electric power industry and telecommunications and what steps the industry is taking to boost access to broadband and the evolving smart grid.
You can listen to the podcast here: EEI's "The Current" podcast on Broadband.