Marketplace - Breaking Ground: Here’s what universal broadband access could look like

Episode Date: August 28, 2024

What if every American household and business had access to high-speed internet? That’s what the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, a federally funded project, aims to accomplish. As part of our “Breaking Ground” series, we visit a town in Kentucky that’s had universal fiber-optic internet connections since 2014, thanks to a cable utilities cooperative and Great Recession-era stimulus funding. Could McKee be a model for what the U.S. might look like if the BEAD program achieves its goal?

And on the third day, they went to McKee, Kentucky. From American Public Media, this is Market Plans. In Los Angeles, I'm Kai Rizdal. Wednesday, today, 28 August. Good as always to have you along everybody. We have been talking these past two days about high-speed internet for our series Breaking Ground. That's as the federal government rolls out the $42 billion BID program. That's Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, part of the bipartisan infrastructure law. And we have focused on

the supply chain. Fiber's future proofs, these cables that I've showed you that we've made today, we're making those to be able to survive outside for decades. And the behind the scenes work that the state government in Frankfurt, Kentucky, is doing with the feds to get the money out the door. There's a gentleman that works for the state government here who has coined a phrase that I love and he's talking about the program. He says, internet for all means every hood and every holler. And we're going to wrap things up today in a place that sticks out for being ahead of

the curve. We don't have so many things, but now we have something that not a lot have and it's high quality broadband in the middle of nowhere. We left Frankfurt and drove about two hours southeast up into the Appalachian Mountains. There are big stretches of this drive where it's just this windy, narrow, two-lane highway surrounded by trees and mountains and limestone. Eventually, we got to the town of McKee, population as of the 2020 census, 803. We're here because McKee did with broadband what the federal government is trying to do now, 10 years ago.

We're up on a hilltop, great view, tons of trees. We walked up the driveway into a brick colonial home. Hi. Hi, how are you? Very well, thank you. How are you doing? Fine, thanks. I'm Kai.

Hi, I'm Raedith. Nice to see you, Raedith. How are you? Good to see you. Greg, how are you? Good to see you. Doing great. Thanks for the hospitality. The pun absolutely not intended, by the way, given that this is a B&B.

Redith and Greg Lakes run Clover Bottom Bed and Breakfast out of their home in McKee, and we took a seat out by the back porch next to the pool. This is nice out here. Thank you. Lovely, actually. First thing I want you to do is tell me who you are and where we are. Well, I'm Rita Lakes, and we run a bed and breakfast, and I don't really know what to say.

I'm the nervous one. That's all right. How's business? It has been fabulous. We have met so many wonderful people, a lot from other countries. Greg and Redith have been in the B&B business for five years. The other reason why this, we feel like has been successful is this one here is a killer cook. So I hang out in the kitchen and stay out of her way and do whatever she asks. So

I guess I could introduce myself. My name is Greg and I work for her. You're from around here, right, Greg? You were born and raised right here. We met at Eastern Kentucky University and one thing led the next. We wound up back here and we built our retirement home, I guess you could say. This land where our house is sitting now was his first home. Their house burnt when he was a small child. And when we first got married, we bought a little used trailer and put it on this lot. So this land means so much to us.

They own 60 acres now. Greg is constantly making improvements, adding ponds and hiking trails and a gazebo. I want to talk about how you run the business and what technology has meant for you and I want to talk about people who come here to actually do business and stay and and you know work off the grid as it were. Okay I will say this you know to run any small business it's's very tough, especially right now. So what you have to do is try to take advantage of those small things that's around you in order to hit the bottom line. So one of our claim to fame here in this area, we've got some of the best broadband of anywhere in the United States. We can afford the opportunity for

folks to take an extra vacation if they can work from their vacation spot to where, you know, something they can bring their family or whatever, you know. We've had that. We've had folks hang out here and do their work and kids in the pool or whatever it might be. The lake's business has only existed since McKee has had fiber internet. People book their stays here online, so broadband has been critical in growing the business and reaching new customers.

This company, PRTC, a little co-op, a small co-op in this area here, 20 years ago had the foresight to say, you know what, we need broadband, we need some of the best that we can get. And now we're reaping the benefits of that. McKees had every home and every business connected to fiber internet, so exactly what the BEED program's trying to do now, since 2014. We went to talk to that little company

that Greg mentioned, PRTC, the People's Rural Telephone Cooperative that finished installing fiber in this town 10 years ago. We got back onto Main Street, that's US Route 421 if you're in the neighborhood. There's a Dollar General, some municipal offices, a bunch of other buildings owned by PRTC. There you go, it says it right here on the sign, gig certified, part of the rural broadband association. The headquarters are in a brick building right next to a cell phone store

called Appalachian Wireless. The office has about six customer service desks. Well this is definitely a telecommunications company, they got TVs all over the place. There's also free phone books up front, when was the last time you saw that? Come on in. Hey sir, Kyle Risdell. Nice to see you.

Hi, Kyle. I'm Keith Gabbard. Nice to meet you. Nice to see you, Keith. How are you? I'm great. Pay no attention to the microphone. All right.

Keith Gabbard is the CEO of the People's Rural Telephone Cooperative, PRTC. His office has a ton of computer and TV screens as well, monitoring the various offices and warehouses. There's a big old-school wraparound desk and a bunch of antique phones, the business that PRTC started in. And what is the PRTC? Well, a lot of people have heard of electric cooperatives back in the 30s when a lot of people didn't have power.

Electric cooperatives were started to get power into rural America. And then in the early 50s, that program became available for telephone cooperatives as well for the same reason. So we're a nonprofit cooperative. We have a seven-member board. We originally were created to serve two very rural, very poor counties in Eastern Kentucky. You're not going to see a lot of big brand name internet

companies out here, which is why PRTC exists. It's got about 55 employees. It's based in Jackson County, of which McKee is the county seat. According to 2022 census data, the median household income in McKee is around $18,000, less than a third of what it is for the state of Kentucky as a whole. You've been here, you've been at this company a long, a long while. I actually graduated from college, went to Eastern Kentucky University. My wife and I decided we wanted to come back.

Not many jobs here. We were both lucky enough to get one. And I started here in 76. I had a business degree in management, but I started out answering the phone and been here 48 years. In his almost five decades at PRTC, Keith has seen it go from just a telephone cooperative to a business that does television

and internet services now too. First, they did dial-up and then DSL. We were constantly having to try to rebuild and upgrade because it just wouldn't get in the speeds DSL wasn't that people wanted. And so 2008, we decided, you know, we'd heard a little bit about fiber to the home. We thought we're going to borrow. We had always borrowed from USDA or US.

So we borrowed $20 million to start a fiber to the home system and part of our area. And you were super early. 2008 is crazy early to be doing fiber, especially out here Well, yeah, we were one of the first in Kentucky for sure and I'm one first in the country History reminder here for a minute the economy was in a shambles in 2008 the Great Recession when PRTC started his fiber project But there was also the eight hundred billion dollar American Recovery and Reinvestment Act the Obama stimulus and for PRTC started its fiber project. But there was also the $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,

the Obama stimulus. And for PRTC, that law meant more federal grants and loans that they used to keep building out fiber. So that was $45 million. We thought we could do both of our whole counties with that. But it took about $5 million more and we used our own capital for that. So it was $50 million to do both counties.

The combined population of the two counties that PRTC serves is about 18,000. And again, it cost $50 million to connect them all 10 years ago. The thing about stringing wire out here is that you can go, well, maybe not miles, but you can go a long way without seeing more than two or three homes in two or three places, right? The density just isn't there. So make that make sense. Well, partly the fact that, you know, part of this was grant money helped.

It certainly wasn't all grant money. But, you know, we don't have to make big profits. We're a nonprofit. So if we can break even and in the long run provide the services our people need, that's what we're about. And we just felt like this would be a game changer for our community. I don't think we realized how much of a game changer though. I need you to describe for people who haven't seen it, the terrain around here, because that's the thing.

Yeah, we have a lot of mountains, a lot of rock. We're not able to bury much of our cable, most of it's aerial, just because of the rock. A lot of forest, a lot of trees, a lot more trees than there are people at homes. Give me a for instance on how hard it is to lay fiber around here. Well, we've got a little notoriety

when one of our contractors was using a mule to go up a mountain to pull the fiber on the poles. And I think the hiring of that caught a lot of people's attention because, you know, using a mule to this state-of-the-art fiber, we don't use that as much anymore. We use four-wheelers or ATVs or things like that. But the mountains here are up and down and you have to go across them and you have to go across the valleys and up and down the mountains. That's where the people live.

Jackson County is exactly the kind of place we were talking about yesterday with Chip Spann from the Commerce Department, where installing fiber is really hard and really expensive. It's why a lot of companies haven't invested to connect rural America to fiber internet. Do you have a sense, I'm sure you do actually, an exact sense of what it cost her per mile to stream all that fiber? Yeah, it was about $50,000 a mile at that time. Now, it's more like $70,000 to $100,000 a mile. And that $50,000 took into account that we already had the buildings, some of the electronics,

the poles, all that infrastructure was already in place. The most expensive internet plan from PRTC is about $100 a month for one gig both upload and download. The cheapest, still well above the FCC's definition of broadband, costs about $50 a month. PRTC is expanding its coverage into other counties nearby, places where they're not already the phone company that owns the utility poles. That makes a difference, means the whole process costs more and takes more time. It means PRTC is going to need to hire more. And to get it all done, they're probably going to apply for bead funding to finish those builds, sending their bids to Megan Sanfus, who we talked to yesterday at the state broadband office.

Where would this company be without federal money? We started 1950 borrowing money from the federal government. So I don't know that there would be a company without federal money. We've borrowed money from them from day one and hundreds of millions of dollars from them over the years. Couldn't have done it without the feds. No. I don't see it. This is one small example of government in this economy changing one small rural area of Kentucky. It's also a story about how Keith and PRTC used a patchwork of grants and loans from 15 years ago that doesn't compare to the $42 billion B dollars available today.

What did it do for the people of this county to have this service? You know, I grew up in this county, and of course people are always gonna complain about what you don't have. And we always complained about, okay, we don't have a four-lane highway, we don't have a hospital, we don't have a college,

we don't have a Walmart. But now, we have something that not a lot have and it's high quality broadband, gigabit capable broadband in the middle of nowhere. And it's just allowed from economic development standpoint and education standpoint, from a healthcare standpoint, you know, we've just seen all kinds of things improve and change and allow our people to do things not only just as good as our neighboring towns that are bigger, but even better. This is your life's work. You've been here

damn near 50 years. What are you, 71? Just turned 70. Just just turn 70 you look good My guess is you're gonna be here another 10 at least right My wife says no, but the board of directors will have you my guess is you're gonna be here. Here's my question Why has this been? the thing that does it for you I Was taught early on life to try to give back to your community. It's very rewarding to me.

Very passionate about that. I know that this company is not the one thing that makes everything wonderful here, but we play a role. There is, of course, a whole team of PRTC employees who get this broadband up and running. The labor side of the story after the break. Hi. Hi, this is Emily from Paxton, Nebraska. I live in a rural area where the written local news has been outsourced to a bigger city, and the local newscast is not very good. I enjoy listening to marketplace programs because they are informative and thought provoking.

I learn about things, places, and people that I would not have found anywhere else. I am so grateful for Marketplace's dedication to bringing the news to the people. Join me in supporting Marketplace with a gift today. Go to marketplace.org slash donate, and thank you. This is Marketplace, I'm Kai Rizdal. We have been reporting on broadband internet this week

as federal and state governments work together to try to get $42 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law distributed. And in all of our conversations with experts about this, pretty much everybody mentioned one big hurdle in getting every household in this country connected to high-speed internet. It's not the topography,

or sparsely populated rural areas like we've been talking about in Kentucky the past couple of days. It is something that's going to affect every part of this country. There just aren't enough people who can work with fiber in the field. Keith Gabbard drove us out to another company building

in McKee, the PRTC Distribution Center, where some of the staff that installs the fiber is based. Oh yeah, it's a warehouse. Oh, look at all that fiber. That's a lot of cable. Yeah, that is a lot of fiber and all different sizes. These huge reels are just like we saw at the Prismian manufacturing plant earlier this week but PRTC buys from Corning, another of the three manufacturers that do fiber and

cable that meets federal domestic manufacturing requirements. We left the warehouse floor, went up the stairs to a narrow hallway with lots of little offices coming off it. Matt back here anywhere brother? He's getting ready to get invaded. Here he is. Here's Matt. Yes, would you? There you go, man. How are you? I'm kind. Good to see you.

Matt Bingen. I'm supposed to hold this? Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. Thank you, man. How are you? I'm kind. Good to see you. Matt Bingham. I'm supposed to hold this? I really appreciate it. Thank you, Brian. Really appreciate it. Yes, you are. Hold up nice and close, just like this. I'm going to sit over there. Go ahead. Have a seat anywhere you want to. Tell me who you are and what you do.

All right. Matt Bingham, install repair tech supervisor for people's role telephone. How many people you got working for you? Somewhere around 20. Matt's office wasn't all that big. install repair tech supervisor for people's role telephone. How many people you got working for you? Somewhere around 20. Matt's office wasn't all that big. He's got some framed certificates, mostly having to do with his work in Fiber,

but mainly the space is covered in framed photos of his wife and kids. You got three boys, huh? Yeah, three small boys. They're gonna grow up with this in their house. Oh, yeah, it's from, compared to the way I grew up, oh, I've heard my iPad, my Alexa, my three-year-old was talking to Alexa the other day

trying to get her to do something. I'm like, when I was three, I was playing with a stick and he heard, you know? Tell me about yourself. Where'd you come from? How'd you wind up here? I was born and raised here. Went to school, to county school.

I had all intentions of going to college and doing something else. I guess I was probably a junior in high school and I really got to think about it seriously and thought, you know, I really don't want to go through four, six, eight more years of school. So, I started thinking about, you know, what can I do and stay in the county. And being the type of person that I am, wanting to work outside was a big thing.

Didn't want to do factory work or anything like that. Really the only options you had was the local electric co-op or here. Matt left town after high school to get some experience as a contractor. In 2011, he got a job at PRTC doing maintenance, worked his way up to the supervisor position he's in now. His crew mostly does installs, also lots of troubleshooting if there's an outage or some other service problem. All the training for this work happens in house since there's nowhere near McKee that

teaches this kind of thing. You know, from when I started we were doing copper. From there to where we are now, it's not even remotely the same. When they said to you, we're going to train you how to do fiber and you're an old copper and coax guy, what were you thinking? Well the first thing was, teach us? Well, the first thing was teachers. It was the first thing that came to my mind. I can remember a guy, we hauled a cable reel of fiber out to a job,

and he pulled off the end of it, and he said, this stuff ain't as bad as everybody says. And he took it and just bent it double. And he said, when you hear that, you've ruined it. And I thought, oh my gosh, we'll never be able to do this. But learning to do it wasn't that hard. It's unrealistic in the way that it works and how it works and what it does.

It's unreal. Just the information and the data. Yes. I mean, you know, when you think about it and you think about the information going across the piece of glass the size of a hair, it don't even seem real. I kind of said the same thing when I visited the fiber manufacturing plant, and Matt's a guy

who does this stuff for a living. Can you see the change, like, in people coming and all that? Oh, yes, yes. I mean, I can think from, you know, whenever I was in high school and I was dating my wife, she lived about 15 minutes away from me and as I drove out the road, I could have told you every house, everybody's name. Now, you know, it's, well, they're from Texas or they're from Wyoming or, you know, Oregon, wherever. Before, if they was somebody from another state moved out the road, that was a big deal. Now, it's everywhere.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It's... Or is it just a thing? It's just a thing. I mean, it's a good thing. When I was doing installs and I had a customer that I knew was from somewhere else, I'd ask him, you know, how'd you end up here? Well, I've seen it online, you know, and it was all of them. How'd you hear about Jackson County?

You know, because this is the middle of nowhere to me. But yeah, it's a lot of opportunity, a lot of growth. And it keeps you busy. Oh, yes. Very, very busy. We'll get out of your hair, Matt. Thanks a lot. Oh, yeah.

We've spent the past couple of days talking about broadband and the $42 billion BID program, just one slice of the three Biden administration laws, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS Act that are getting the government farther into this economy. There are still a lot of variables. It's an election year for one, and we're not going to know the full impact of the BEDE program on this economy for a long, long time for another. But the thing about policy changes and long-term investments like this is that at the end of the

day, it's not about who's in the White House. It's about the people on the ground doing the work. It's Tracy Overcash and the crew at Prismian scaling up fiber and cable production. It's Chip and Megan driving around the state of Kentucky trying to find every location that needs broadband. And it's Matt and Keith and small companies you have never heard of like PRTC doing what they can to improve their communities. Work being done now in the hopes the investments pay off later. Music This final note on the way out today, we spent a lot of time for this story driving around and talking to people in McKee, Kentucky. One of the big ideas that kept coming up from basically everybody was local pride.

PRTC started, as Keith Gabbard was telling me, with telephone service back in the 1950s, when bigger companies just weren't all that interested in a place like McKean Jackson County. Fast forward to today, with all of that bead money on the line and a very, very different telecommunications competitive environment. You know, a billion dollars is a lot of money. It's attracting a lot of attention. You are clearly an ambitious guy

with big ambitions for this company. You're in surrounding areas and counties, as you've already said. People are gonna start looking and saying, I can make some money there. What's your advantage over the charters and the AT&Ts? The fact that we know the area, we know where the people live,

we know what the people don't have, and we actually care about the people in Eastern Kentucky. Some of the big companies, I understand why they don't, but they care more about the big cities and the stockholders and things like that and what the stock price is. That's not really our motivation here. We're trying to serve customers and not lose money, but we don't have to make millions of dollars. We're trying to provide a service that can improve our community, can make the quality

of life of our people better. That's one of the things this co-op, that's one of our missions. Almost 50 years Keith Gavre's been their local pride, like I said. Our media production team includes Brian Allison, Jake Cherry, Jessen Duller, Drew Jostan, Gary O'Keefe, Charlton Thorpe, Juan Carlos Torrado and Becca Weinman. Jeff Peters is the manager of media production. I'm Kai Rizdall. We will see you tomorrow, everybody. This is APM. Hi, this is Phoebe in Honolulu, Hawaii. The economy shapes our lives and our marketplace helps me keep up with that force without getting bogged down in bad news.

I also appreciate their focus on gender and racial inequity and non-climate change. And I love the growth agnostic stories about drivers of our economy other than consumption. Join me in supporting Marketplace with a gift today. Go to marketplace.org slash donate.