Local utility cooperative helps hooking up internet in Stone County

WIGGINS, Miss. (WLOX) – For those who live in rural areas, hooking up to the internet can be a foggy proposition. However, Pearl River Valley Electric’s working to eradicate that through it’s Pearl-Comm Fiber program.

It’s a robust, five-year plan to get 100% of their service territory customers hooked up to the net, including those in Stone County and Wiggins.

“We serve mostly rural areas of South Mississippi and those folks need it, just like the folks in the cities,” said Matthew Ware, Pearl-Comm Fiber CEO. “We’re excited about it. We look at it very similar to what we did 80 years ago, when we brought light to those in rural Mississippi. It’s going to be something that changes lives for years to come. We think this will change how people do work, do school, and do medicine.”

They tell us right now they have 2,700 customers hooked up, with 1,650 miles of that internet fiber already in place.

“It’s another tool in our tool box, as I like to say. That access has become as important as people having the water, the sewer, and all the utilities,” said Betsy Rowell, executive director with Stone County Economic Development Partnership. “That’s on the list now. This is a game changer for us. Many of our people live in a rural area. this connects them in a way they’ve never had before.”

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