Six northeastern parishes—West Carroll, East Carroll, Madison, Tensas, Franklin and Caldwell—are among the least internet connected parishes in Louisiana, The News-Star reports.
According to BroadbandNow, a consumer advocacy group that crunches government and business data to help people find broadband providers in their area, customers in those parishes lack access to internet speeds faster than 25 mbps.
Meanwhile, fewer than 5% of customers have access to those speeds in Jackson, Richland and Jackson Parishes. Ouachita, home to CenturyLink, is the best-connected parish, with 93% of customers having access to internet speeds of 25 mbps or faster, followed by Lincoln with 56% and Morehouse with 48%.
For most of Louisiana, AT&T is the primary broadband provider. CenturyLink covers the second-largest area, and Northeast Louisiana Telephone Co. covers the third largest territory in northeastern Louisiana. Rural areas, however, remain a challenge for internet providers.
CenturyLink’s Annmarie Sartor notes that high-speed internet is important to economic development as site selectors look at the region to do business. The Interstate 20 corridor is becoming an important technology hub, particularly regarding cyber security. Sartor cites CenturyLink, IMB, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Louisiana Tech University, Grambling State University, Barksdale Air Force Base and the Cyber Innovation Center as anchors.
“Serving mostly rural areas of the state remains a challenge for providers due to the higher costs of serving less densely populated areas. CenturyLink, like others, continually seeks more efficient and better ways to increase speeds,” Sartor says. “As of 2015, the company had invested $602 million into its networks statewide.”
