Partnering with City of Columbus
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of Columbus and Indiana telecom company Smithville Digital finalize deal to wire region with fiber broadband.
Area businesses cite economic development as driver for major expansion of broadband infrastructure.
COLUMBUS, Indiana Ellettsville-based Smithville Digital, a subsidiary of Smithville Telephone, Indiana’s largest privately held telecommunications company, and the City of Columbus today finalized a deal to provide optical fiber service to the city and area business, and to spur economic development efforts in Columbus and Bartholomew County. Smithville won the contract over several national providers through a competitive bid process.
Governor Daniels' Quote
Smithville will provide managed fiber optic connectivity, dark fiber connectivity and internet bandwidth through the Greater Columbus Conduit System. The city of Columbus had previously built the 7.2 mile conduit system, which will house the fiber from Smithville and come online to customers by 2008.
“Governor Daniels and our state legislature deserve tremendous credit for passing the telecom reform act. While previously we would have been constrained, we now have the opportunity to expand and grow our network, and help cities like Columbus create jobs and strengthen the economy in the process,” said Smithville Digital President Cullen McCarty.
Columbus Mayor Fred Armstrong recognized the need for improved technology in the city to spur economic growth and appointed a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) comprised of area business, economic development and education leaders to create and implement a strategic plan that would address those issues. The TAC, comprised of representatives from Cummins, Columbus Regional Hospital, City of Columbus, IVY Tech Community College, ArvinMeritor, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation, Bartholomew County and Indiana University Purdue University-Columbus, managed the entire process and eventually selected Smithville to provide the optical fiber portion of the City’s strategic plan.
“As today’s economy changes, so do our needs. Expanding the economic benefits of broadband is one way to help businesses increase their efficiency and support economic growth. This project will provide data redundancy that is a key requirement to attract high tech industry, reduce the cost of entry for service providers and increase competition,” said Mayor Armstrong.
Chris Price, Chairman of the Technology Committee and a Cummins Inc. employee said, “Our intent is to create a world class technology infrastructure that will be attractive to both high tech companies and their employees who expect easy access to quality telecommunications. We are using a tiered approach that started with a detailed strategic plan and includes building a fiber optic conduit and in time will grow to near city-wide access to WIFI.”
Smithville Digital currently manages the Indiana Digital Gateway, which provides fiber optic broadband services to Indiana companies like Cook Inc., Bloomington Hospital, Monroe County Schools, Baxter Pharmaceuticals, WestGate @ Crane Technology Park, EG&G Inc., City of Bloomington and other major companies in south-central Indiana.
“We’re one of the only fiber providers serving cities, counties and businesses with direct fiber optic network connections that will also lay pipe and fiber, handle construction services and anything additional our customers need. We’re an Indiana company that can do it all, which differentiates us from the competition,” said McCarty “We’ve enjoyed partnering with the city of Columbus and look forward to providing rural areas throughout the state with cost-effective alternatives for their broadband communications.”
About Smithville Digital
Smithville Digital was formed in 2003 to offer the highest technological services for businesses and networking throughout the state of Indiana. Smithville Digital provides a fiber-optic means of digital data transmission to its customers. Fiber-optic technology allows for “last mile” connectivity as well as network management solutions to help customers meet their data transmission needs. For more information about Smithville Digital visit www.smithvilledigital.net.
Smithville Digital was formed as a spin-off of Smithville Telephone Company. Founded in 1922, Smithville Telephone has grown to be Indiana’s largest independent telecom company. Smithville Telephone Company has expanded its services to include Smithville Digital as well as DSL services. The headquarters are located in Ellettsville, Ind. For more information please visit www.smithville.net.