Part of Tech Movement initiative aimed at moving communities forward through technology investment, jobs and innovation

Hattiesburg, Miss. (May 30, 2019) – Hattiesburg is expecting a major boost to its regional economy from C Spire’s selection of the South Mississippi city as the latest market for the company’s residential fiber program, which features Gigabit speed internet access, award-winning live streaming TV and premium digital home phone.

C Spire Home Services, the unit that manages the company’s residential fiber program, is beginning installation this week of the game-changing infrastructure in the first neighborhoods located in northern and western parts of the city with plans to complete work and begin offering services this summer.

C Spire executives, city and state officials, business leaders and community representatives unveiled the plans at a major news conference in the Shadow Ridge subdivision in the western section of the city. Hattiesburg is the company’s 16th market and second largest city in Mississippi to participate since the Fiber-to-the-Home initiative was launched in 2013.

“Residential fiber is a game-changer and this revolutionary technology infrastructure promises to boost home values, broaden entertainment opportunities, help expand the local economy and improve the quality of life for homeowners,” said Ashley Phillips, general manager of C Spire Home Services. “We expect to move quickly with the city’s help and support.”

“This is one more step in expanding the technological infrastructure of our city while providing more options to our residents and businesses,” said Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker. “Today’s announcement continues our trajectory as one of the most dynamic cities in the Gulf South.”

The first customers to receive the services not only will experience a quantum leap in broadband internet speeds and capacity, but also get access to digital home phone service and the nation’s first app-based, live streaming digital commercial TV service honored by the cable TV industry in 2017 as the best television technology product in the U.S.

C Spire TV delivers advanced cable TV features that consumers love in convenient and simple apps that are designed to run on popular streaming devices, such as Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Apple TV – eliminating the need to outfit every TV in the home with a set top box and saving several hundred dollars a year in rental fees.

The Hattiesburg residential fiber program is leveraging new infrastructure additions along Highway 49 and other key areas in South Mississippi to C Spire’s over 9,000 route miles of backbone fiber optic cable that spans the state. “Our services are future-proofed with the incredible capacity that this technology supports,” Phillips said.

Mississippi Public Service Commission Southern District Commissioner Sam Britton, a long-time advocate for advanced broadband infrastructure in the state, said he expects the 21st century technology to transform the way homeowners live, work and play while boosting education, job opportunities and economic development in Hattiesburg. “Great internet access is critical to our success and I appreciate C Spire’s continuing efforts to make it a reality here.”

Chad Newell, president of the 860-member Area Development Partnership, said fast, reliable internet is central to communications, business expansion and economic development in Forrest, Lamar and Perry counties. “This will definitely make it easy for workers to telecommute and attractive for businesses to relocate to our region,” he said.

Newell said he expects the fiber optic infrastructure to increase home values as more consumers subscribe to the suite of services and potentially lure new high-tech business investment to the region. “We see a bright future and many opportunities to leverage this infrastructure,” he added.

Recent nationwide studies have concluded that Gigabit speed fiber-optic connections like those provided by C Spire Home Services can add $5,437 (3.1 percent) to the price of a $175,000 home – about as much as a fireplace, or half the value of a bathroom.

With the addition of Hattiesburg, C Spire has rolled out ultra-fast Gigabit internet access and related services in 16 Mississippi markets, boosting overall broadband connection speeds in the state by 200 percent since 2014. The suite of services is competitively priced and is expected to pave the way for a boom in smart home applications and innovation.

Residential fiber is part of the C Spire Tech Movement initiative, which is committed to moving communities forward through technology with a focus on broadband access, workforce development and innovation.

To learn more about C Spire Fiber service and pricing or to find out if your home is in an area with this next-generation technology infrastructure, visit www.cspire.com/fiber. To learn more about the C Spire Tech Movement, visit www.cspire.com/techmvmt.

About C Spire
C Spire is a diversified telecommunications and technology services company that provides world-class, customer-inspired wireless communications, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access as well as a full suite of dedicated Internet, wireless, IP Voice, data and cloud services for businesses. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at www.twitter.com/cspire.