C Spire connecting first Alabama customers to ultrafast fiber internet
C Spire is now providing service to customers in Jasper. Marking the event were, from left, Ashley Phillips, general manager of C Spire Home Services; Jasper City Council member Gary Cowen; Jasper Mayor David O'Mary; and Ben Moncrief, managing director of C Spire Alabama. (contributed)
C Spire has started connecting the first Alabama customers this month to its ultrafast, fiber-based gigabit broadband internet and related services.
Some Jasper residents are the first in the state to receive the services, with parts of Trussville set to start receiving the services later this month. Additional communities, including Pelham, Helena, Northport, Tuscaloosa and parts of Mobile County, have executed franchise agreements with C Spire and are on the drawing board for construction and service in 2021.
As part of its expansion efforts, the diversified telecommunications and technology services company is soliciting interest from other Alabama communities and towns that want more reliable and faster broadband internet service, based on the firm’s crowdsourcing model, which relies on homeowner, business and renter demand to drive adoption.
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C Spire executives celebrated the company’s progress with a press briefing in front of the home of Dr. Gary Cowen, one of the first customers to receive the services and a member of the Jasper City Council.
“The installation was smooth, the internet access is superfast and now I can really move forward with my smart home plans,” Cowen said.
Alabama ranks 38th in the nation in broadband access and state leaders have made access to fast, reliable and affordable internet for rural areas a priority through state funding and creation of the Alabama Rural Broadband Coalition, a group of community, business and government leaders dedicated to job creation, economic development and business growth.
“We’re excited about bringing high-capacity fiber broadband services, which rely on a transformational and truly revolutionary technology infrastructure that will boost home and business values, broaden entertainment opportunities, help expand local economies and improve the quality of life for residents in Jasper and other parts of Alabama,” said Ashley Phillips, general manager of C Spire Home.
“Fiber’s symmetric speeds – for example up to 940 megabits per second upstream and downstream – are particularly important for interactive learning, remote work and telehealth applications beyond streaming video or surfing the web, which rely on fast download internet speeds,” Phillips added.
As the first city in Alabama to receive C Spire fiber, Jasper plans to leverage the infrastructure to help continue the city’s progress to improve the quality of life for residents and the economic environment for businesses, said Mayor David O’Mary.
“C Spire Fiber will help us add jobs, diversify and grow our economy well into the future,” he said.
Alabama state Sen. Greg Reed of Jasper, the Senate majority leader who championed 2018 state legislation to pave the way for broadband expansion, said the partnership with C Spire and others will help the state achieve its broadband objectives.
“Alabama’s economic future depends on bridging the digital divide for small towns and rural communities like ours throughout the state, and the addition of C Spire’s high-speed, all-fiber broadband internet service to Jasper and Walker County will benefit all of us,” Reed said.
“This is truly a game changer when you think about schoolchildren embracing online learning and many parents working at home right now due to the public health emergency,” Reed said. “Faster, better broadband internet connectivity also helps attract new businesses and the jobs they bring. That’s a win-win for everybody. We are greatly appreciative to have a wonderful company like C Spire investing in Alabama’s infrastructure and its people.”
For more information about C Spire’s fiber broadband internet service rollout in Alabama, go to www.cspire.com/alfiber.
