Thank you for attending Co-ops Connect 2025 IGNITE!
Your path to broadband success starts with a strong partnership:
We guide you to broadband benefits that go far beyond high-speed internet:
- Transforming your community
- Future-proofing your electric system
- Unlocking the potential of smart grid
- Accelerating daily life for your membership
- Impacting the next generation
Revisiting Co-ops Connect 2023: Insights, Highlights and Gratitude.
Thank you to every person who attended our workshop. Your presence and participation contributed immensely to the success of the event – the diverse range of expertise and experiences that each participant brought to the table truly enriched the overall learning environment for all of us.
Key Highlights from Co-ops Connect 2023:
Interactive Discussions: Participants engaged in thought-provoking conversations on gaining traction in competitive markets, broadband lessons from trial and error, the fundamentals of fiber construction and design, targeted marketing, and more!
Collaborative Spirit: The cooperative spirit throughout the workshop was unmistakable as individuals from various backgrounds came together to explore common goals and resolve shared challenges.
Networking Success: The event facilitated meaningful connections, fostering new friendships and a sense of community among attendees.
Top 5 Takeaways From Co-ops Connect
1. “If we don’t do it, no one else will.”
This has been a refrain of electric co-ops since the 1930s. Even co-ops that had previously not wanted to get into broadband have found it necessary.
As one CEO recounted, in their service territory 30 of 100 high school seniors were unable to graduate in 2020 because lack of internet access made it impossible to finish school.
2. “I was told that I’d have to get 60 poles changed the first week, 90 the second week, then get to a pace of 120 per week after that.”
This year, our clients will change out nearly 200,000 poles for their broadband projects. The pace of make- ready construction by electric co-ops is unparalleled.
If states are looking for ways to spend BEAD funds, Kentucky’s pole replacement program is a good model for other states.
3. “Co-ops can compete against anyone.”
Missouri’s United Electric Cooperative has 7,000 members and a populationdensity of less than 2 meters per mile. Yet its broadband subsidiary now has over 26,000 subscribers and is planning to build into St. Joe which has a population of over 70,000.
To those who think co-ops’ inherent advantage in broadband is due to their ownership of poles, co-ops, like United Electric, have proven that a co-op’s true competitive advantage is the ethos of service.
4. “I don’t know what smart grid will become, but I know I’ll be in a good position with a fiber network.”
Whether it is connectivity to all electric devices, voltage control, or a self-healing grid, smart grid and fiber broadband go hand in hand.
Electric co-ops deploying fiber are at the forefront of smart grid experimentation and innovation.
5. “The BEAD program is an excessive amount of funding; states will struggle to spend it all.”
The federal government, having committed funding for rural broadband through the CAF, RDOF, ACAM, CARES, and ARPA programs, will allocate BEAD funds to states by the middle of 2023.
Once the areas funded by the other programs are removed, the only places most states will be able to spend BEAD are in areas served by cable broadband. Cable will go to war over that.
Partnering with electric co-op clients across 24 states
Conexon can guide your electric co-op to a brighter, more connected future with fiber broadband.