With internet connectivity issues growing in importance during the COVID-19 pandemic, five electric cooperatives in Virginia and Maryland have formed a broadband cooperative association aimed at encouraging the expansion of high-speed internet service in underserved rural areas.
The new Maryland and Delaware Association of Broadband Cooperatives (VMDABC) includes Millboro-based BARC Electric Cooperative and its BARC Connects subsidiary; Arrington-based Central Virginia Electric Cooperative and its Firefly Fiber Broadband subsidiary; Waverly-based Prince George Electric Cooperative and its Ruralband subsidiary; as well as Chase City-based Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative and its Empower Broadband subsidiary and Denton, Maryland-based Choptank Electric Cooperative and its Choptank Fiber LLC subsidiary.
“This association is the first of its kind in the nation,” said the group’s new board chairman, Prince George Electric Cooperative CEO Casey Logan in a statement. “Much like the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives was created 76 years ago during the formative years of rural electrification, today’s formal organization of a broadband association will improve the quality of life for our members.”
