Empower Broadband, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Virginia-based Mecklenburg Electrical Cooperative, says it has successfully deployed affordable fiber access to more than 7,500 subscribers across long-neglected and underserved portions of the Old Dominion state.
Mecklenburg Coop, created in 1938, serves 31,000 residential and business electrical customers across portions of nine Southside Virginia counties and five northern North Carolina counties. Like many cooperatives, Mecklenburg and Empower are leveraging generations-old experiences at rural electrification to migrate into the broadband business.
In 2022, the coop broke ground on a $154 million initiative to bring high-speed internet to 14,634 unserved and underserved locations in Halifax, Mecklenburg, and the southern portions of Charlotte and Brunswick counties. As of today, the Mecklenburg fiber network consists of 2,900 miles of fiber and passes by 23,443 locations, with additional expansion planned.
“We are pleased to celebrate this significant milestone,” Empower CEO Casey Logan said of the expansion. “Our commitment remains strong to bring this much-needed service to our rural communities. As we move forward, I want to assure you that our vision will not change, because you matter. Empower will continue its deployment of world-class broadband service to the rural communities that have gone unserved for far too long, and I look forward to working with you for many years to come.”
Many of the targeted deployment communities either lack any access to broadband whatsoever, or see spotty, expensive, sluggish DSL access from the likes of Brightspeed, which acquired Centurylink (Lumen’s) unwanted DSL subscribers in 2022. The lack of regional competition results in high prices, slow speeds, and spotty availability.
A sizable chunk of the cooperative’s recent fiber expansion was made possible by a $69 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant. Empower has also been aided by the FCC’s earlier Connect America Fund Phase II Auction (CAF), which distributed $198 million a year for 10 years to support high-speed Internet service in rural communities.
Empower was one of several providers who ran into problems with the less efficient aspect of the FCC’s CAF program. Namely, that numerous providers bid on projects they couldn’t complete and wound up defaulting on their obligations. After which, efforts to take over those obligations by more competent providers like Empower ran into annoying restrictions.
Areas earmarked for RDOF or CAF II funds, even if deployments weren’t completed, were excluded from participating in what’s arguably the biggest broadband subsidy program ever attempted in the U.S.: the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program created by the 2021 infrastructure bill and overseen by the NTIA.
According to the cooperative, expansion plans are ongoing, and there are currently 700 subscriber applications awaiting the final stages of construction for home installation.
