Last night at City Hall in Richmond, a broadband town hall was held by Lexington-area consulting firm Solarity Group regarding the rollout of Kentucky Wired, which will bring state-built fiber optic internet to downtown Richmond. According to the group, this is similar to the rollout of fiber in lexington, which has occurred over the past two years. The Kentucky Wired network can then be built off of for private and business use.
The group showed presentations detailing how other small communities have integrated fiber optic cable into their cities, which outlasts copper wiring that currently brings internet to many homes across the country. As far as cost, Solarity explained that the upfront capital would for construction would be the most daunting, but the long-term benefits would far outweigh the costs. The group, which has set up the same system in Fayette County, explained that fiber can last conservatively 30 plus years, as opposed to copper which is more easily damaged by weather and elements.
When the public proposed questions about how this utility would be paid for, Solarity responded that they were still in the “fact-finding” and information gathering stages of the process, and wanted as much feedback as possible from the public. They also responded that this will not put the current providers, AT&T and Spectrum out of business, but will instead allow them to compete more in providing Madison County residents with high speed internet.
When asked how much high speed broadband was available at the moment in the county, officials responded that most residents have access to high speed internet through the two current providers, but certain areas, such as the Banyans neighborhood off Duncannon, still do not have the utility.
The group explained that whether this Public-Private Partnership, made possible by new “P3” legislation, would be paid for my taxpayer dollars is yet to be decided. Instead, they are looking for private partners and owners of fiber companies, one of which was in attendance last night, to invest in the new opportunity for the city.
WBON-TV will continue to follow the rollout and construction of the Kentucky Wired fiber being built by the state, and the process Solarity has undertaken in getting high speed fiber to the City of Richmond.
