Municipal, education leaders and students detail quality of life and economic benefits from 1 Gigabit per second Fiber to the Home ultra-fast consumer broadband Internet program
Madison, Miss. (March 18, 2015) – Madison, one of Mississippi’s most family-friendly communities, may soon offer some of the fastest Internet access in the world as part of C Spire’s ground-breaking Fiber to the Home program.
Municipal leaders and C Spire executives announced ambitious plans at a downtown news conference Wednesday afternoon to sign up more residents faster than any other Mississippi city for the next-generation suite of services, which includes 100 times faster Internet access, super HD TV and nationwide home phone.
Several hundred residents already have shown interest in the service and now they have an opportunity to pre-register by making a $10 refundable deposit at cspire.com/madison. The city is divided into 21 separate fiberhoods – allowing residents to easily enter their address, sign up and track their progress.
C Spire plans to support a massive grassroots outreach and citizen advocacy campaign aimed at encouraging Madison residents to quickly pre-register their interest in the next-generation suite of technology services and sustain momentum by urging friends and neighbors to take similar action.
Volunteers will play a key role in helping educate and encourage residents throughout town to pre-register for the service, said Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler, who added that C Spire and city officials also plan to partner with schools, community groups, churches and homeowner associations to boost interest and accelerate sign ups.
“We’re honored to partner with C Spire in this historic initiative on behalf of our families and future generations,” Butler said. “This is a seminal moment in the history of our city. We have an opportunity to improve home values, attract high-tech investment and enhance the overall quality of life for our residents. We’re rolling up our sleeves and getting started today.”
With nearly 26,000 residents, over 9,700 housing units and a 93 percent home ownership rate, Madison represents an ideal city for C Spire’s game-changing technology initiative, according to Suzy Hays, senior vice president of Consumer Markets.
“We’re pleased that the city of Madison is determined to leverage the excitement of Internet at the speed of light with its citizens,” Hays said. “Fiber to the Home can be a transformative technology that serves as a platform for technology investment, economic growth and job creation.”
Instead of dividing neighborhoods into pre-determined sections, C Spire is allowing residents to determine whether and how quickly their areas qualify for construction through a new “heat map” approach during the pre-registration process. “As a customer-inspired company, we feel this approach is the best way to help ensure that we get Gigabit speeds to more people faster,” she added.
Hays said Butler and her staff will play a key role in helping educate and encourage residents throughout the city to pre-register for the services. “Momentum is important and the mayor and her staff can help be a driving force in any progress by far as they have rallied volunteers, schools, community groups, churches and homeowner associations to catch the vision.”
Butler and Hays were joined at the news conference by key local education and business leaders, who discussed how the next-generation technology infrastructure will benefit residents, businesses and students.
Dr. Ronnie McGehee, superintendent of Madison County Schools, said Gigabit infrastructure will help Madison students develop essential 21st century technology and workplace skills and learn critical thinking. “Education is no longer just about learning and memorizing facts and figures,” McGehee said. “It’s about collaborating with others, solving complex problems, developing different forms of communication and leadership skills and improving motivation and productivity.”
Madison County schools and administrative facilities already are served by high speed Internet connections, which McGehee said allows students and teachers to potentially have the same robust connection at home and school for homework and collaborative learning as well as exploration of cutting-edge opportunities for teaching, learning, performing original research and working with other schools and organizations.
Madison is the 7th and highest per capita income city to qualify for the historic statewide technology initiative. C Spire turned up commercial Gigabit Internet and related services for its first residential customers in Quitman, Ridgeland and Starkville last year and expects to activate service in Clinton, Corinth and Jackson later this year.
For C Spire customers, the 1 Gbps Internet access will be available for $70 a month, $90 a month for combined Internet and home phone, $130 for Internet and super HD TV and $150 a month for the entire package of all three services. Non customers are required to pay an additional $10 a month on all packages.
To pre-register for the suite of services, go online at www.cspire.com/madison. To learn more about C Spire’s Fiber to the Home initiative or to pre-register for one or more of the service, visit www.cspire.com/fiberhome.
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.
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