For those supporting ‘we will wait for Beacon Broadband’s anticipated excellent customer service’, or “going where no one else has gone”: Have you considered the following?
Are attributes like these worth the financial risk of the Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative (you/us) going into more debt to expand its business-model beyond its core business? Core business being the delivery of electric power in an efficient and affordable manner – not being an internet provider.
Membership in the cooperative makes us, the membership, ultimately responsible for the loans being made to sustain and promote Beacon Broadband Incorporated (BBI) as it attempts to compete against the core businesses of Spectrum/Charter, Ziply, Starlink, and other much larger enterprises.
I have little doubt that BBI’s current customer service is ‘excellent’. This excellence, however, is wholly dependent on the fiber optic infrastructure supplied by Ziply from the north and Spectrum/Charter from the south.
“Going where no one else has gone” and ‘internet for everyone’ has similar appeal to having a sheriff’s department that provides county-wide 24 hour patrols and service. In the case of the sheriff’s department such funding endeavors are voted upon by the citizens of Curry County. In the case of BBI six individuals made no less than an additional $60 million dollar debt-decision for you and me. These six individuals have systematically made the details of their decision secret – hiding behind generalities couched in terms of “we studied for 2 1/2 years”.
BBI is not a core service of the cooperative and comes with significant financial risk to every cooperative family. This risk is the poor chance that BBI’s eventual market share, paying premium subscription rates, can sustain itself and pay-off the loans guaranteed by six cooperative board members. Loans that the entire membership is ultimately responsible for.
