Citizen Help Vital For Fiber Deployment In Water Valley

WATER VALLEY – A flurry of activity is underway in the city to combat a filing from a cable company blocking grant funding that would subsidize the cost of a fiber-optic broadband deployment project in the city.

The Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) announced last year that Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association (TVEPA) will be awarded $1.136 million to deploy fiber to 811 households in the City of Water Valley and outlying areas. The BEAM funding was put on hold after MaxxSouth filed a report with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last summer stating they provide high speed internet to all residents in Water Valley.

Water Valley Mayor Tommy Reynolds reported MaxxSouth’s FCC filing stating that all houses and businesses in the city and in outlying areas that receive electricity from the Water Valley Electric Department have high-speed internet options is simply not accurate.

“There are places all across our electric department’s coverage area that have very few internet options if any,” Reynolds explained about unserved or underserved areas.

“The burden of showing that this is not true rests entirely on the city,” Yalobusha County Economic Development Executive Director Kagan Coughlin added.

Reynolds and Kagan Coughlin are spearheading an effort to counter the claim from MaxxSouth. Their goal is to prove that the cable company does not provide 1,000 megabits per second to all residents and businesses in the city as claimed in the FCC filing. They acknowledge this will be a tedious process, as residents have to test and document their internet speed on three different days. That information must be recorded on a form (see Page 3) and submitted to the city.

The mayor also said a special meeting is expected to be scheduled in approximately two weeks to allow citizens to turn in the forms that will be recorded in the minutes of the meeting. Forms can also be turned in at city hall prior the meeting.

“We will send the minutes of the meeting to BEAM,” Reynolds added. “We need to get this information to BEAM as soon as possible.”
Reynolds urged all residents in Water Valley to participate, adding it does not matter which internet provider you use.

“If you receive electricity from the Water Valley Electric Department, we need you to participate,” Reynolds explained. “If we are united and work together on this, we have a chance to succeed. Nothing is guaranteed, except that if we don’t contest this we have a 100 percent chance of losing this funding.”

Reynolds stressed that the fiber deployment is critical for the future of the city.

“We are set to grow and thrive in the future and we don’t need setbacks like this. I don’t like our community to be picked on,” the mayor said. “We are going to pull out all the stops to show that our community is currently underserved.”

Coughlin reported that the estimated cost for fiber deployment for all of the city’s electric department customers is approximately four millions dollars.

“It would take time for TVEPA to recoup that investment and the BEAM funding is vital for this project,” Coughlin said.

TVEPA was the first electric cooperative in Mississippi to launch the process of bringing fiber to the home, work that started in 2019. TVEPA offers fiber through its subsidiary company, TVIfiber, in the nine-county coverage area. City officials have been in discussions with TVEPA for almost two years about deploying fiber to Water Valley Electric Department customers.

 

Camp Ground Resident Launches Fact-Finding Mission About Internet Service

WATER VALLEY – A resident in the Camp Ground community has launched a fact-finding mission to learn about high-speed internet options available in the Water Valley Electric Department’s coverage area. Rick Carlisle, a retired attorney who lives on County Road 14 in the Camp Ground community, reported he has previously been denied service by MaxxSouth.

“A few years back I went to the MaxxSouth office in Oxford and they said I couldn’t afford it,” Carlisle told the Herald about running cable from the road to his house. “I am 820 feet off the road and they did not want to go that far.”

Carlisle currently receives internet service from AT&T DSL.

“There are about five of us out here on AT&T’s DSL. It is very slow service and AT&T is phasing it out. The (AT&T) technicians have let us know, if we drop our coverage they are not turning it back on,” he told the Herald.

After learning last month that MaxxSouth had filed a report with the Federal Communications Commission stating the cable company provides high speed internet service (1,000 megabits per second) in Water Valley and surrounding areas covered by the Water Valley Electric Department, Carlisle started asking questions.

“I have been knocking on doors or trying to catch people out in their yards,” he explained.
Carlisle has discovered that there are a lot of people who live in his area who receive internet service from MaxxSouth and others have been denied service even if they live close to the road.

“Some did not have complaints (with MaxxSouth). Some people said they were paying too much and their service is spotty. Even people who have MaxxSouth would like to see a competitor.” Carlisle said. “Others have tried to get on MaxxSouth and were told they were too far off the road.”

Making matters worse is areas that surround the Water Valley Electric Department’s coverage area have high-speed internet access from electric power cooperatives including Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association (TVEPA) and Northeast Mississippi Electric and Power Association.

“TVEPA (coverage) is only a few hundred yards from my house. People who live close to me have service,” Carlisle added.
Carlisle also cited conversations with people who reside inside the city limits of Water Valley who experienced difficulty receiving MaxxSouth service or had to pay for the cable to be extended to provide service.

“MaxxSouth is not really serving everybody in the Water Valley community who wants to be served,” Carlisle said. “I think MaxxSouth needs to be concerned if they are not carefully telling truth. I know for me it wasn’t true. I would be concerned for the liability.”