Unique Event Launches FTC Alabama Gigabit Service

When Alabama-based Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative launched gigabit service earlier in 2014, the company thought of a unique way to promote and celebrate the accomplishment. The first home to get gigabit service turned up was the same one to which FTC first turned up phone service back in 1955. The current mayor of Geraldine (AL) was a boy at that time and lived in the home, which is still in his family, and he gave an address at the launch ceremony, as did FTC General Manager Fred Johnson and a representative from the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service. The USDA several years ago awarded FTC a $24 million loan, which covered some of the cost of deploying the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure that underlies FTC’s gigabit offering. Speakers at the launch event highlighted the important impact that high-speed broadband can have on a community, enabling capabilities such as telemedicine and distance learning.

FTC Manager of Marketing and Public Relations Brandi Lyles said FTC will offer gigabit service anywhere it has deployed FTTH, which now reaches about 84 percent of FTC’s 15,000-line service area. She said FTC already has signed up nearly 100 customers for gigabit service, even though the company has not yet launched a promotional campaign for the service. She noted that the company will promote the offering more broadly after it takes shipment of new customer premises equipment that combines optical network terminal and media gateway functionality. For residential customers, FTC charges $20 more for gigabit service than for its 100 Mbps offering. Gigabit service costs $88 as a stand-alone offering residentially. The cost for business customers is in the $300 range.