Getting Connected

State wires up for high-speed Internet

Mississippi is getting on the broadband wagon. While currently Mississippi residents have the lowest broadband (high speed) Internet usage rate in the country—about 60 percent—the Mississippi Broadband Connection Coalition (MBBC) aims to help more Mississippians get high-speed Internet connections.

Mississippi has received about $7 million in federal funding to collect information on the availability, speed and location of broadband across the state. Part of these funds helped create MBCC, a non-profit partnership focused on producing a comprehensive statewide plan for improving digital literacy, increasing access to broadband and enabling greater adoption of broadband in the state.

"We are trying to get a picture of which areas in Mississippi have adequate access to high-speed Internet and where there could be improvement," says Laura Hipp, deputy press secretary to Governor Haley Barbour. "The State of Mississippi will not actually install a broadband system as broadband is made available by telecommunications companies, wireless service providers, cable providers and other Internet providers."

The MBCC is led by Jim Barksdale, the former CEO and president of Netscape, and includes more than 150 industry leaders, community representatives, state agencies and broadband users.

High-speed Internet connections could be especially important to the Delta.

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