Mayor Denny Spinner and Perry-Spencer Communications CEO Jim Dauby announced a project this morning to bring high-speed fiber-optic Internet to 100 percent of Huntingburg residents over the next two years.
The project, dubbed High-Speed Huntingburg, will cost approximately $3 million and will be completely funded by PSC.
“Rural communities need to provide a core infrastructure to attract and retain firms and meet the needs of local businesses and entrepreneurs,” Spinner said. “Today, robust and affordable Internet access is a critical component of that core infrastructure.”
Dauby echoed Spinner’s comments remarking that “broadband Internet is the electricity of the 21st century.”
The project will commence in spring of 2016, Dauby said, and the first area to be completed will be the new Hunters Crossing subdivision of the Stellar Communities workforce housing development. Dauby said PSC is working with Hunters Crossing developer Jane Hendrickson to make sure every new home is fiber ready by the time new families are ready to move in.
Spinner read a letter from Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann congratulating Huntingburg on yet another project that “reinforces why Huntingburg is a Stellar Community.”
Dauby said he and everyone at PSC have been brainstorming a project like this for years and are excited it has finally coming to fruition.
“I’m looking forward to working with the city, combined with PSC’s experience and our dedicated staff, I think High-Speed Huntingburg is going to be a success,” Dauby said. “We’ve been discussing a project of this magnitude with Mayor Spinner for sometime, and 2016 seemed like a good time to start construction of a fiber optic network in Huntingburg.”
The project will help move Dubois County forward. In Jasper, officials from Smithville Telecom, a subsidiary of Smithville Communications of Ellettsville, are installing fiber-optic lines throughout the city. Which neighborhoods will be connected first will depend on demand.