C Spire says it is preparing for the next phase of its Tech Movement to make fiber-optic broadband internet accessible and affordable to Mississippi businesses.
Together with local economic developers, C Spire executives have invited over 1,000 local business owners to a meeting on Friday, April 6 at the Mill Conference Center in downtown Starkville to provide information on fiber-fast internet access for enterprises starting at $200 a month, the company says. The goal of the meeting is to gauge interest among businesses and discuss the project’s next steps, says Allen McIntosh, C Spire Business Solutions vice president and general manager. According to McIntosh, similar meetings are planned for this year in other cities.
The company has installed more than 8,000 route miles of fiber-optic cable throughout Mississippi, and says it intends to make fiber-based service with various speeds available to one out of every five of the state's 250,000 businesses. The broadband expansion is an extension of C Spire’s fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) program, which the company attests was one of the first in the U.S.; it aims to connect thousands of consumers in nine Mississippi communities to gigabit internet, digital television, and home phone services.
The business internet initiative is the second phase of the private sector technology deployment, C Spire says. The deployment also includes expansion of its broadband internet and wireless fiber-based fixed internet intended to reach over 250,000 consumers and small businesses throughout Mississippi.
According to C Spire, at least two dozen cities, including Starkville, have been selected for the launch of its initiative to make 1-Gbps internet widely available to Mississippi businesses, including the Golden Triangle, a region in the eastern central portion of Mississippi. In November, C Spire began the initiative to offer gigabit-speed internet access to businesses in Mississippi, starting with Tupelo (see "C Spire selects Tupelo for gigabit internet access initiative launch").
"Broadband internet infrastructure is as important as roads, highways, bridges, railroads, and ports," said Joe Max Higgins Jr., Golden Triangle Development Link’s CEO. "Developments like this help position the Golden Triangle region for continued success."
C Spire plans to provide broadband Internet with speeds of 25 Mbps to underserved areas, 100 Mbps to other communities, and 1 Gbps to businesses by leveraging fiber optic and fixed wireless technologies. More details on attending the Starkville meeting, can be found online at http://events.cspire.com/fiberfaststarkville.
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