Delta Business Journal
Hyde-Smith Continues to Work for Rural Broadband
DBJ
This past January, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), along with U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), introduced bipartisan legislation to reauthorize a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that is instrumental in improving access to broadband service in Mississippi and the rest of rural America.
The Middle Mile for Rural America Act proposes a five-year (2026-2031) reauthorization of the middle-mile infrastructure program to help connect rural communities to high-speed internet.
“If we’re going to ensure reliable, high-speed broadband service to people in rural areas, we must look at the whole, which includes critical middle-mile projects,” says Senator Hyde-Smith. “This is a small, but significant USDA program that fills a gap to help ensure reliable and affordable service for rural homes and businesses.”
“I expect this reauthorization to be approved so that electric cooperatives, like those in Mississippi, can continue their work to expand broadband service.”
The 2018 Farm Bill expanded the authority of the USDA Rural Utilities Service to fund loans, loan guarantees, and grants for stand-alone middle-mile broadband projects, which previously could only be supported indirectly as part of last-mile projects.
This change, among other things, prompted seventeen Mississippi electric cooperatives to collaborate on improving and expanding middle-mile infrastructure improvements to increase resiliency and reduce the costs of connecting unserved and underserved areas across the state.