Mike Couick
In my childhood home of York County, the dual nature of our state is particularly noticeable.
The eastern half of York County boasts one of the fastest-growing populations in the nation, and development is booming. In contrast, western York County—where my parents live and I often visit—offers a quiet pace and rural lifestyle, but no Wi-Fi or cell service. While that makes for a welcome technology break during my visits, it also presents significant challenges to the residents of this part of the county.
The couple that lives near my parents are about 80 years old. Both suffer from health challenges, including a serious heart condition. Their special-needs adult daughter also lives with them, and so my dad checks in on their family regularly.
Last year, a careless driver knocked over a telephone pole, resulting in a complete loss of phone service to the area. Since cell service isn’t an option, the loss of their landlines effectively transported the residents of this area back 100 years to a time of complete communication isolation.
During their loss of service, they had no way to call for an ambulance or law enforcement, much less family and friends. Our friends either needed to venture outside their service area to notify their carrier of the outage or hope one of their neighbors soon could.
The folks in western York County are stuck in the gap between new technology and the old ways of doing things. They’ve been left behind. The same can be said for rural citizens across the state who don’t have access to high-speed broadband—a fact made painfully obvious during the COVID-19 crisis. The disadvantages were clear to those trying to work from home or participate in distance learning.
South Carolina’s electric cooperatives are especially attuned to these challenges. Every co-op in this state wants to have broadband coverage in their territory. Some are going to provide it themselves. Mid-Carolina and Newberry Electric Cooperatives have been getting high-speed internet to their members since 2017. Lynches River Electric has just begun, while Tri-County Electric will begin this summer.
Others are still looking for adequate funding and partnerships that will help them reach their underserved communities. Still, others believe they can rely on existing carriers to provide it. In Horry and Georgetown Counties, for example, Horry Telephone Cooperative is already providing broadband cable internet, so Horry Electric Cooperative has no plans to get into the internet business. In their area, there is no need.
But in the case of unserved or underserved areas of our state, electric cooperatives believe there are various ways to reach total internet coverage. Just like electricity, internet is now an essential service. Electric cooperatives can and should be able to help bring that service to communities in need.
We hope to work with state and federal policymakers to achieve an all-of-the above approach so that all of South Carolina can move forward together.