C Spire Plans Broadband Expansion in Another Mississippi Town

C Spire will hold a meeting in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on Jan. 26, 2018 to educate area business owners about the opportunity to get Gigabit speed internet access for their businesses at the lowest price available in the U.S.  An earlier Dec. 8 meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather.

The meeting is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the at the Lake Terrace Convention Center. To reserve a seat, business owners should register online at http://events.cspire.com/fiberfasthattiesburg. Registration closes on Jan. 25, 2018.

“Fast, affordable and reliable broadband is a vital asset to our local businesses, to economic development and our community as a whole,” said Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker.  “With faster access, we have an opportunity to enhance Hattiesburg’s technological infrastructure offerings, which will help us continue our trajectory as one of the most dynamic and innovative cities in the Gulf South.”

Local business leaders said the C Spire initiative can help Hattiesburg build a robust broadband infrastructure that will “futureproof” efforts to boost business growth and expansion.

“Ultra-fast broadband is an engine that will aid in driving our local economy into the future,” said Chad Newell, president of the Area Development Partnership.

Hattiesburg is one of at least two dozen cities chosen by C Spire to begin the first U.S. effort aimed at making Gigabit internet widely available to businesses ranging from coffee houses and restaurants to law offices, accounting and tax services.  The company aims to make ultra-fast service available to one out of every five of the state’s 250,000 businesses.

Gigabit access for businesses is the second phase of a major private sector technology deployment by C Spire this fall that features a massive expansion of ultra-fast broadband internet and wireless fiber-based fixed internet to more than 270,000 consumers and small businesses in cities and towns across the state.

The broadband expansion is a key part of the C Spire Tech Movement, an outgrowth of the company’s 2013 groundbreaking Fiber-to-the-Home program, one of the first of its type in the U.S. and the fastest to connect thousands of Mississippi consumers in nine communities across the state to Gigabit internet, digital television and home phone services. To date, C Spire has installed over 8,000 route miles of fiber optic cable and owns and has deployed more wireless spectrum in Mississippi than any other communications carrier.

Other elements of the program include leading the development of a tech workforce in Mississippi hrough education initiatives, expanding tech innovation and development of a state-of-the-art digital customer care platform for customers and team members.

“We’re excited about partnering with the city of Hattiesburg to make the benefits of ultra-fast, fiber-based Internet available to their local businesses,” said Allen McIntosh, vice president and general manager for C Spire Business Solutions.

Macintosh also stated the city has five business fiberhoods – designated areas that are within several hundred feet of the company’s extensive existing infrastructure of buried fiber optic cable.  Even the remaining businesses that are outside of the primary sphere of influence can receive the service if there is enough interest, he added.

“With this model, we can make these cutting-edge 21^st century services available anywhere as long as there is enough interest to justify our capital investment,” McIntosh said.

McIntosh said the goal of the meeting is to gauge interest among businesses and discuss next steps for the project. Similar meetings have been held in towns across Mississippi with others planned soon.

Overall, C Spire plans to deliver broadband Internet to over 270,000 residents and businesses with speeds ranging from 25 Mbps in underserved areas, 100 Mbps in other communities, to 1 Gbps for businesses using the latest fiber optic and fixed wireless technologies, which enable faster and more widespread availability of critical services.  The company also is continuing its FTTH Gigabit deployment in several communities across the state.