Parson announces money for SEMO Electric project

SIKESTON, Mo. — Gov. Mike Parson traveled to Southeast Missouri on Tuesday afternoon, attending a broadband development event at SEMO Electric Cooperative.

During his visit, Parson announced 16 projects from eight providers will be getting $3 million toward their respective projects. SEMO Electric was one of those.

Parson announced SEMO Electric will receive $142,000 for Scott County projects.

Parson said that when he became governor, one thing he was aiming for was strong infrastructure and workforce development.

“You can’t have one without the other,” Parson said Tuesday.

Parson also mentioned that seven to eight schools are currently without broadband throughout the state, leaving students and teachers in a bind on how to go about learning and teaching material during the COVID-19 pandemic. With effective and high-speed broadband, Parson said that could change, and added since the pandemic hit and students had to go virtual, that left a void for those without access to the internet at home.

“When we shut schools down, some kids didn’t have the means to do virtual learning,” Parson said.

He also mentioned rural Missouri will have a significant impact on growing the entire state.

In 2017, board directors at SEMO Electric decided to bring high-speed fiber broadband to the area.

Serving a 2,000-mile radius, SEMO Electric announced a $52 million project that was initially for 60 months. Due to construction, though, that plan shrunk to 36 months.

Overall, GoSEMO Fiber adds roughly 200 new subscribers per month, with the group connecting its 4,000th member in May.

GoSEMO Fiber’s Lloyd Rice said that since the pandemic began, there were nearly 1,400 connected households. Tuesday, SEMO Electric announced the company was nearing its 5,000th connection.