FAIRHOPE – Construction of Baldwin County’s first residential fiber broadband internet service should start within two weeks in Fairhope and Orange Beach, project supporters said.
C Spire will start construction on the Eastern Shore and Gulf Coast as well as west Mobile, Hu Meena, company president and CEO, said at a press conference Thursday, July 1, in Fairhope. He said fiber is the best way to meet the current need for more reliable, high-speed internet.
“Fiber is the best technology there is for handling the data tsunami and there is a data tsunami. If one didn’t exist before the pandemic, it does now,” Meena said.
Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan said Baldwin County is one of the fastest growing areas in the United States and many residents moving in need high-speed internet for work and education.
“People can choose where they want to live now, if you have great infrastructure and that’s what’s happening in Baldwin County,” Sullivan said. “People are choosing to live here and we’re happy about that. Whether they are going to virtual school or telemedicine or remote working. This fiber network is going to be a huge investment in our area and a huge economic driver for Baldwin County.”
Ben Moncrief, C Spire managing director for Alabama, said that fiber broadband is a key to economic growth.
“It’s a huge deal for the folks in the Mobile Bay area in Mobile County and here in Baldwin County for two reasons,” Moncrief said. “One, they’re going to have access to a much better broadband service and where you have all-fiber services, it’s demonstrated you have better GDP, you have better economic growth.”
He said work will start soon and the first homes and businesses should have service by the end of 2021.
“We are going to begin construction of our all-fiber gigabit broadband services throughout the Mobile and Baldwin County areas,” Moncrief said. “You will see construction happening, little blue trucks and our contractors hard at work in west Mobile County, here in the Fairhope area, down at the beach in Orange Beach within the next two weeks. So, we’re serious and we’re moving fast.”
Moncrief said fiber allows users to upload data onto the internet as fast as they download.
“If you get a gigabit download speed, you also get a gigabit up,” he said. “That used to not matter when all you were doing is downloading movies, but as soon as you start participating in a videoconference using Zoom, which we’ve all done, you’re contributing to the Internet as much as you’re taking out, so that upload speed matters a lot and only fiber can deliver the same speed upstream as it does down.”
Some of the crews providing the new service will be from a company already established in the area. Meena said C Spire has completed its acquisition of the local company Harbor Communications.
“We were fortunate enough six months ago to be able to close a deal with Harbor Communications and we’re proud to say that those people are now C Spire employees, and on our team,” Meena said.
Alabama ranks 38th nationally in broadband access and federal and state officials have made access to fast, reliable and affordable internet for rural areas a priority through 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, a C Spire statement said.
