First Internet Customer 12/11/20

4-County Electric Power Association started bringing power to Mississippians who couldn't get it any other way.

Anchor intro: more than 80 years ago...4-county electric power association started bringing power to mississippians who couldn't get it any other way.

Now...they want to do the same thing with the internet.

Wcbi news reporter stephen pimpo was in clay county today to talk with the first customers to get that broadband internet 121120-pkg "neither our cell service nor our internet is very reliable.

We're kind of in a dead zone for whatever reason."

For many people...reliable internet access is something they can't live without.

But since the covid-19 pandemic...it's become a necessity.

"there's a lot of education needs, kids need it to be able to do their homework and research and a lot of people need it for healthcare."

But it is something residents in rural parts of clay county have had to go without.

"at first we used to have to go into town and sit in the parking lot and use the internet."

On friday...that changed for roy and mary shannon as they became the first customers to get broadband internet service in their region from fastnet.

Su: when they're done, the shannon's will have close to 200 yards of fiberoptic cable running under their property.

Fastnet is a subsidiary of 4- county electric power association.

The columbus- based utility company has launched a broadband pilot in clay county....stephen pimpo wcbi news.

121120-tag cark says there are more than 100 more customers in clay county who have requested internet service from fastnet.

He says they hope to help connect all their nearly 24 hundred eligible members across choctaw, clay and noxubee counties by the summer of 2021.

Stinger