East Mississippi Connect

A spokesperson for East Missis­sippi Electric Power Association (EMEPA) said that the company is already providing high-speed inter­net accessibility to a portion of Kemper County, with access set to eventually be provided to the currently unserviced areas as well.

Julie Boles, director of marketing and communi­cations for EMEPA, said that the parts of Kemper County that are served by the DeKalb, Townsend, and Cleveland substations are already able to re­ceive the internet service if they desire.

“Those were all a part of Phase 1,” she said. The Handle substation that services the Preston area in Northwest Kemper County is part of Phase 2, while the Blackwater sub­station, which covers the South central part of county is included in Phase 3. The Scooba sub­station, which basically takes care of the Hwy 45 corridor through the county, is scheduled in Phase 5.

She said the service is being provided by East Mississippi Connect, the fiber internet subsidiary of EMEPA.

“We started construc­tion in October of 2020 and here a year later have made a lot fo progress,” Boles said.

She noted that it is very important for those who are interested in receiving internet service from East Mississippi Connect to go ahead and get on the po­tential subscriber list. “We are going to go down that list first when the service is ready to go in the af­fected areas.” She said. Boles said customers are encouraged to contact the company at www.eastmsconnect.com. Those who don’t have computer access can also call 601-581-8800 or go by their local EMEPA of­fice.

Boles pointed out that there are basically seven steps required to provide service to the communi­ties scheduled to be in­cluded in each phase of the project.

Step one is make ready engineering, which in­cludes examining existing infrastructure.

Step two is make ready construction, which in­cludes making upgrades to getting existing infra­structure ready for adding fiber lines.

Boles noted that if a cus­tomer’s power comes from overhead lines now, the internet service would as well. Those who re­ceive power service from underground lines, will re­ceive internet the same way.

Step 3 is burying fiber cable underground and stringing it from poles.

Step 4 is splicing the necessary cable at each end point and mounting splices in enclosures se­cured to distribution poles.

Step 5 involves the serv­ice drop, which means ex­tending the fiber cable from the nearest splice point to the area receiv­ing service.

Step 6 is drop splicing. This is the final outdoor step in a fiber construc­tion project and gets the network ready to be con­nected to homes.

Step 7 is installation in the home or business.