Public Service Commissioner seeks citizen help to improve cellular service and high-speed internet access
Attala County residents’ complaints about inadequate cell phone reception and lack of high-speed internet service have been heard, and Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley is taking action.
First, Presley is forming a task force comprised of county residents who will collect data that he will use as evidence to prove Federal Communications Commission coverage maps are wrong. He will be forming these groups in every county across the state.
Objective two is to change a 1942 Mississippi law that prohibits electric cooperatives from providing internet service.
“Mississippi is 49th in the country in connectivity,” Presley said, “…and that’s unacceptable.”
Currently, FCC maps indicate that there are no gaps in Attala County cell phone service, according to Presley.
Presley said that the state has a “very narrow window of time” to prove that FCC data is false and ensure Mississippi remains eligible for $100 million worth of federal funding marked for rural cell phone tower construction.
“We’re going to be asking these task force members to help us by downloading a free app the FCC has to record speeds,” Presley said. “We’re going to submit that (evidence) at the end of October to the FCC and say to them, ‘Here’s evidence that your maps are wrong.’”
The free app may be downloaded by going to Google Play and searching for “FCC Speed Test.” There is both an android and iPhone version.
To find out how to submit data collected by the app, Presley’s office may be reached at 1-800-637-7722, or by email at northern.district@psc.state.ms.us.
“We need as many hands on deck as (possible),” Presley said.
Presley described the lack of high-speed internet service in rural Mississippi as a crisis. In 2019, he will ask the Mississippi legislature to amend the law that is blocking the expansion of rural internet service within the state.
“By and large, the people who may oppose this move are not serving rural Mississippi in an affordable manner, or at all, and will tell you, ‘We have no intentions to serve your area,’” Presley said.
“Right now, these companies essentially have a monopoly,” Presley said. “You can quote me on this: They have rural Mississippians over a barrel. Period.”
The answer, according to Presley, is for the state legislature to amend code section 775205, which would allow local boards the autonomy to decide for themselves if electric cooperatives may offer internet service.
Presley recently travelled to Hamilton, Alabama, with a delegation of state legislators to visit the town’s 9,500-member cooperative, which offers unlimited 100 Mbps internet service for $49.99 per month.
“We’ve got to figure out as a state whether it’s going to be acceptable for our citizens to sit outside of McDonald’s, or Subway, and try to get free wi-fi at department stores to do homework or do their job,” Presley said.
U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Commerce statistics indicate that Mississippi has experienced negative population growth for three consecutive years. Presley believes this is in part due to fewer education and work opportunities available to residents because of the lack of connectivity.
“The sucking sound you’re hearing now are young people leaving rural Mississippi,” Presley said, referencing an early 1990s Ross Perot comment about NAFTA. “And they’re not coming back.”
The lack of connectivity and its negative consequences are unnecessary, Presley said.
“It’s a simple fix to allow cooperatives to do in Mississippi what they’re doing everywhere else,” he said. “I’m going to make this clear: It doesn’t cost a penny of tax-payer dollars.”
Presley said he expects to announce within the week a time and place for an Attala County meeting where both topics will be discussed with residents.
To become a task force member or ask about the upcoming Attala County meeting, call Presley’s office at 1-800-637-7722 or send an inquiry to northern.district@psc.state.ms.us.
