C Spire is gearing up for the launch early next month of the next phase of the nation’s first and only statewide roll out of ultra-fast 1 Gbps broadband fiber to home Internet service.

The company plans to launch customized pre-registration web pages Dec. 4 for the historic broadband initiative to bring ultra-fast 1 Gig Internet service, which is 100 times faster than national average broadband speeds, to Batesville and eight other Mississippi cities in the initial phase.  These cities and towns were among 33 municipalities that submitted formal applications in late September to be the first to bring the technology of tomorrow to their communities today.
Homeowners and residents in Batesville, and the eight other cities will get their first opportunity on that date to pre-register for the ultra-fast Internet as well as related digital television and home phone services. Batesville signed its franchise agreement with C Spire last week.

“ Mississippi has among the lowest broadband Internet penetration rates in the nation.   C Spire’s Fiber to the Home initiative is really an opportunity for Batesville and other cities in the state to shine  – giving us broadband speeds that currently are available only in a handful of other U.S. cities,” Batesville Mayor Jerry Autrey said.

To help Batesville better prepare for the next phase of the “Get Fiber First” Challenge, C Spire staff participated in a town hall meeting last week with community and business leaders who are rallying their respective towns to quickly pre-register homeowners in designated “fiberhoods” at percentage levels that will qualify them to be among the first to receive the services.

Company representatives shared details on plans, pricing, service package options, the pre-registration process and the economic and social benefits from the next-generation technology with hundreds of interested homeowners in town hall meetings in eight of the nine cities.

 The 1 Gbps Internet access will be available for $80 a month, $100 a month for combined Internet and home phone, $140 a month for Internet and digital TV and $160 a month for the entire package of all three services.   C Spire Wireless customers will receive an additional $10 monthly discount on all packages.

Residents will be asked to make a $10 refundable deposit and provide credit card information when they pre-register.  The web pages also will feature detailed, interactive maps of fiberhoods showing progress each one is making toward turning “green” and qualifying for build out of the service. 

“As soon as a critical number of neighborhoods have reached their percentage goals in a fiberhood,
C Spire plans to begin construction – so there is a possibility that work could commence in more than one community at the same time.” said Gregg Logan, senior vice president of C Spire Fiber.

The finalist cities were selected last month by a C Spire review panel that considered factors like proximity to the company’s fiber optic infrastructure, community mobilization capabilities and incentives to speed up the construction process and reduce overall costs.

 The application review process was monitored and the Individual and overall results tabulated by Ridgeland-based Horne LLP, one of the nation’s top independent public accounting and business advisory firms.