WCTel: Greenwood ‘logical place’ to expand
ABBEVILLE — West Carolina Rural Telephone Cooperative’s expansion of West Carolina Fiber — a fully owned subsidiary of the co-op — into Greenwood County is underway.
Shannon Sears, the co-op’s director of commercial operations, said the first Greenwood customers could be up and running as early as June.
The Abbeville County-based co-op — which offers service in Abbeville and McCormick counties as well as the Starr-Iva area of Anderson — chose to expand into Greenwood County for a number of reasons, Sears said.
“This was the most logical place. We already had some service right on the border and it made business sense,” he said. “And Greenwood is a growing community. They’re much like Abbeville in that they’re community minded and community focused and that’s what we’re about.”
Expanding into Greenwood County, which Sears said is projected to take 10 years and cost $48 million, pits WCTel against Northland Communications — the county’s only cable provider — as well as other service providers present in the county, such as Dish Network, AT&T and Charter Spectrum.
On May 5, Northland Communications announced a $5 million investment in services in Greenwood County to boost internet speed and television services. Melanie Hannasch, Northland Communications’ vice president for marketing and sales, said the investment was not related to WCTel’s expansion.
WCTel CEO Jeff Wilson said he looks forward to the co-op participating in the growth the area has been experiencing.
“As we look to expand and grow, Greenwood is a natural place,” he said. “I’m excited, and our board is excited, when we look at Greenwood and all the positive that’s going on there today. Whether it’s the Partnership Alliance, Piedmont Tech, Lander, Greenwood Promise, the 1-percent capital sales tax project — all those things together make it an exciting place to be.”
Regency Park Apartments will be the co-op’s first customer in Greenwood and about 132 units will be converted to fiber optics by mid-May, according to a release from WCTel.
About 360 homes in Hunters Creek will have access to WCTel services by June, Sears said.
WCTel — which provides fiber optics to the majority of its customers — chose to make the transition to fiber optics several years ago to keep up with a growing demand for bandwidth, Wilson said.
“When we look at the investment in fiber infrastructure, we know that that technology is basically future proof,” Wilson said. “We truly believe by having the fiber platform, we can continue to grow and offer higher speeds.”
The services that will be offered will include data and hosted voice services for small- and medium-sized businesses, phone, TV and voice services, high-speed internet and security services, the release said.
Sear said there has been a largely positive response since the co-op announced the expansion.
“Most everybody was excited about the fact that, over fiber optics, you can provide a lot more bandwidth,” he said. “It’s not limited by the distance to somebody’s home or office so it’s a more reliable form of delivery.”
Originally Published by Index-Journal on: May 22, 2017
By CONOR HUGHES chughes@indexjournal.com
Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/wctel-greenwood-logical-place-to-expand/article_2ab6f9ef-1949-51ba-8cb4-78c2c3b94968.html