Yesterday, the Escambia County Commission voted 4-1 voted to approve a plan to partner with Escambia River Electric Cooperative (EREC) to bring high-speed fiber internet directly to over 4,000 homes and businesses in rural northern Escambia County
Escambia County will contribute $6 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to the project across EREC’s franchise area, while EREC will come up with the remainder of the estimated $23-$24 million project.
Last week in WCOA, Commissioner Steve Barry, who has championed making high-speed internet available county-wide, said, “We’re going to have high-speed fiber to extremely rural areas probably by the summertime. The project completions might be 20 months out or so, but we’ll start to light people up as soon possible.”
The commission vote allows staff to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with EREC and provides support as EREC applies for Florida Department of Economic Opportunity grants.
District 2 Commissioner Mike Kohler was the lone negative vote, saying he hadn’t had sufficient time to research the issue. Kohler won the GOP primary for the post and has had third months to gear up on county issues.