Smithville, Indiana’s largest privately-held telecom, and the Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC (UDWI) announced a unique limited partnership that is expected to accelerate high-speed fiber construction in a cost-effective manner. The partnership is expected to mutually benefit customers and communities in their overlapping service area.
The two companies will first leverage this new partnership to bring high-speed fiber-optic connectivity to more than 800 homes in the rural area east of Stanford in Monroe County. The two-year project will begin its initial phase in early 2021 and focus on building residential fiber connectivity to about 280 homes. Additional areas of the project are expected to start construction later in 2021. The companies set a schedule that forecasts the completion of the full project of more than 800 homes by the end of 2022.
Smithville’s engineering teams are completing plans for the initial Monroe County project area, which will include using some aerial infrastructure assets owned by UDWI. Joint planning will continue throughout the two-year timeframe as new construction areas are added within the initial Monroe County project.
The organizations are presently considering additional joint projects that utilize UDWI’s electric infrastructure and Smithville’s telecommunications expertise to construct high-speed fiber infrastructure in places where their service areas overlap.
Smithville and UDWI already both provide service in areas near the $100 million WestGate@Crane Technology Park and other portions of south-central Indiana, where additional joint projects may also materialize. However, the companies will complete their initial joint project before actively pursuing additional opportunities.
See FAQs below.
White - entire area to receive fiber under this partnership
Green - area included in Phase 1 of the project
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Smithville and UDWI have some overlapping service areas. This project allows both companies to work together to bring fiber internet service more quickly and efficiently in common service areas. Building fiber in rural areas is costly. By partnering, each company can leverage their assets, lowering the cost of building fiber in hard-to-serve rural areas of the region.
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Smithville is a member/owner in UDWI REMC with years of proven expertise in telecommunications. UDWI is a Smithville customer as well. Both companies share a similar, community-minded approach.
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The partnership leverages Smithville’s expertise and UDWI REMC’s physical infrastructure to build the network and meet the needs of customers in the overlapping service area in a professional, fiscally responsible manner.
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The initial project area includes roughly 800 customers in the rural area east of Stanford in Monroe County. The first construction area will include 280 homes to begin in early 2021.
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The announced project area includes homes presently served by copper-based service.
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All homes included in the first construction were notified with a joint letter from Smithville and UDWI REMC mailed several weeks in advance of construction.
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Information will also be included on the Smithville website using the “check availability” option.
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The companies are partnering to deploy a high-speed fiber network in areas where their service areas overlap. Homes that fall outside of the overlapping areas will not be included.
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The focus for the next two years is on the 800+ home Monroe County project. Future projects will be identified based on Smithville’s planned improvement areas and aligned with UDWI’s strategic capital improvement plan.
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No additional project announcements are anticipated until the completion of the initial 800+ home project.
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All customers within the first construction area will be notified in advance of construction and service availability.
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As the project continues, more information will be available on the specific timeframes for each build area.
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The focus for the next two years is on the 800+ home Monroe County project. Future projects will be identified based on Smithville’s planned improvement areas and aligned with UDWI’s strategic capital improvement plan.
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No additional project announcements are anticipated until the completion of the initial 800+ home project.
Smithville is funding this project through private investments made by the company. The construction costs are not being passed on to either Smithville or UDWI customers.