North Lauderdale Water Association receives grant for broadband project

The North Lauderdale Water Association has received a $175,000 grant from the State of Mississippi Public Utilities Staff for a broadband project to serve North Lauderdale households and businesses.

“It was a matching grant so we were limited on how much we could contribute and they would match whatever we put in,” says Board President Ike Keifer. “After we worked it out, we were able to set aside $175,000 of the money we would put up-matching the $175,000 grant money from the state fund Cares Act so we could do a total project of $350,000.”

The plan will provide increased broadband services to areas that are considered unserved or underserved in rural North Lauderdale.

“This is actually where we’ll bring fiber in from outside to our water plant and set up our network operations center here in this building. We’ll have a tower built outside the building and from this site transmit wirelessly this connection to the internet at gigabyte speed to three other tower sites.”

With most jobs and schools being operated from home, this service will be beneficial to customers.

“Some of the legislators in the capitol identified broadband as being one of the main things that when address all three priorities of the COVID Cares Act money which are health, education and jobs. If you think about it, all three of those things are very much influenced by access to the internet.”

The project plans to cover approximately 120 square miles which will be targeting to deliver 25 megabits per second. These services are expected to be in place by December 30th.