now happening at c spire

Jackson Becomes First Mississippi City to Qualify Seven Areas for C Spire’s 1 Gbps Fiber to the Home Internet Technology Initiative

2015-06-09

Hinds County city turns another area “green” as part of nation’s first and only statewide rollout of 100 times faster Internet access

Jackson, Miss. (June 9, 2015) –

Homeowner pre-registration exceeded the required threshold in a seventh area of Mississippi’s largest city this week – helping Jackson expand eligibility for C Spire’s ultra-fast 1 Gbps (Gigabit per second) Fiber to the Home Internet service and related Super HDTM TV and home phone services.

Jackson’s Aububon Park-Little Europe-Indian Streets fiberhood reached its pre-registration target Monday and now joins the Sheffield-Sherwood Forrest-Massena, Highlands East-Meadowbrook Highlands-Fontaine, Country Club, Belhaven Northeast, Eastover and Fondren East fiberhoods, which qualified for the next-generation suite of services earlier this year.

The Ridgeland-based telecommunications and technology services company expects to finish engineering and begin construction this summer in the latest Jackson fiberhood to qualify for the next-generation services. Construction started on Monday in the Country Club area and is scheduled to start next week in the Eastover fiberhood. Commercial service is expected to be available later this year in all seven areas.

With its latest milestone, Jackson becomes the first Mississippi city to qualify seven areas for the fastest consumer Internet access available in the U.S. today. Ridgeland is the only other city that has qualified at least six areas for the game-changing services. Jackson has a total of 15 fiberhoods.

Online pre-registration began in Jackson last fall at www.cspire.com/jackson. Since that time, several thousand residents throughout the city have expressed their interest in the suite of game-changing services by making $10 refundable deposits and providing credit card information.

“We’re impressed with the continued momentum in Jackson and consumers’ growing excitement for ultra-fast Internet access,” said Suzy Hays, senior vice president of Consumer Markets for C Spire. “Fiber to the Home can be a transformative technology that serves as a platform for future technology investment, economic growth and job creation.”

Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber said the latest progress shows that momentum is growing as more residents are educated and learn about the opportunity to invest in the city’s future. “We’re seeing more areas qualify faster as we continue to educate consumers and as individuals share the opportunity with their neighbors, friends and co-workers.”

Yarber also noted that C Spire and the city are in the final stages of efforts to provide free Gigabit Internet access at two municipal community centers to help more Jackson residents learn about the benefits of 100 times faster fiber-based broadband Internet access and related services.

The technology program, which will help the city expand its computer learning lab at the Johnnie C. Champion Community Center and offer digital literacy classes at the Medgar Evers Community Center, is expected to begin later this month.

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. Madison was added as the 7th city in the program in March and already has qualified its first two areas for the next-generation services.

For C Spire customers, the 1 Gbps Internet access is 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 learn more about C Spire’s Fiber to the Home initiative or to pre-register for the service in Jackson, visit www.cspire.com/jackson.

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.