As local leaders joined Freedom Fiber officials last Wednesday to celebrate the completion of the company's fiber internet build out across Franklin County, there was an interesting irony as contractors for another internet provider continued their work locally installing fiber optic cable to areas they previously weren't interested in serving.
Expansion of service by a Freedom Fiber competitor continues in Franklin County as Tombigbee Electric Cooperative's Freedom Fiber held a ribbon cutting at the A.W. Todd Centre to announce what the completion of what the company calls 'world class fiber internet' now available to all homes and businesses in the county.
Vina Mayor Michael Moomaw shared the thoughts of many who attended Wednesday's ribbon cutting as he opened the celebration.
“I never thought we'd see the day where we have internet in Vina, but today, we can say we have it available to everyone in our city and the entire county,” Moomaw said.
Tombigbee Electric's President/CEO Britton Lightsey said his company is now live throughout Franklin County with the exception of the City of Russellville, and residents in the county's largest municipality won't have to wait much longer.
“We will start connecting customers (in Russellville) in the next two or three weeks,” Lightsey told the FFP Friday. “Next week we'll send out 9,000 postcards to the three zip codes in and around Russellville. We'll give it six or eight weeks and then do Red Bay and Phil Campbell with more postcards. By the first quarter of 2025, we'll have the entire city built out. And we've already got more than 400 preregisters in the system.”
Russellville residents and business owners may preregister at www.freedomfiber.com and will be notified by a Freedom Fiber employee when service is available at their address.
Celebrating a day when all Franklin County homes and businesses have reliable, affordable, high-speed fiber internet seemed a pipe dream until a few years ago, as efforts to woo companies including Charter and AT&T to expand beyond population-dense municipalities to rural areas were repeatedly unsuccessful.
It was that compelling need from which Freedom Fiber was formed.
The Tombigbee Electric Cooperative Board realized the need for its a majority of its members to have access to high-speed internet. That's how Freedom Fiber was born. Packages are available from 500 Mbps all the way to 10 gig fiber broadband. Franklin County was the first location in Alabama to have 10 gig fiber broadband available.
That 10 gig speed is an immense marketing tool in attracting industry to relocate or expand into Franklin County, Lightsey said. And with today's ever-changing world, Freedom Fiber is equipped to increase speeds by changing cards in its huts and cabinets located around Franklin County.
“As technology changes, we will upgrade our equipment to meet technology's ever-changing needs,” Lightsey said.
With investments from companies like Freedom Fiber, Alabama has improved from 47th nationally when it comes to broadband connectivity to 24th among all states.
The company's mission is to provide 'world-class, ultra-high speed fiber-optic internet,' first in its electric service area, followed by expansion to Franklin County after relentless efforts from local, county, state and federal leadership.
The efforts began 12 years ago with the creation of the Franklin County Broadband Task Force. Franklin County voters approved an amendment that vested authority to regulate and pursue grant funding for broadband with the Franklin County Water Service Authority, which was largely responsible for bringing Freedom Fiber to Franklin County.
Rep. Jamie Kiel's support helped secure state grant funding, U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt helped obtain federal funding, and the Franklin County Commission made more than a $5 million commitment out of its American Relief Plan Act funds that, combined with Freedom Fiber's own investment, allowed the entire county build out to become a reality.
“It's a win-win for everyone and we at the (Franklin) County Comission are excited for the growth potential this brings to everyone in Franklin County,” said Franklin County Probate Judge Barry Moore.
Lightsey also credited the electric utilities, Franklin Electric Cooperative and Russellville Electric Board, for their willingness to allow build out on their existing infrastructure in their service areas.
No longer will Franklin County rural residents and businesses have to stand in the corner waiting for reliable, high-speed fiber internet.
“We are rural based. We serve rural Alabama. We try not to lose the fact that's where we came from,” Lightsey said. “We carry that same vision from the electric world into the fiber world. They deserve fiber-optic internet as much as people in larger populated areas do.”
Franklin County's high-speed fiber-optic internet build out could have been done many years ago had the companies serving the county's municipalities shown an interest and willingness to step up and truly serve rural residents. The opportunity was there. The interest from county leaders, businesses and residents was there. But larger ISPs weren't willing to make the investments in rural areas. Enter Freedom Fiber.
“At Tombigbee, we're comfortable in our own skin. We would have been okay serving our members with internet service,” Lightsey said. “But the opportunity was there to serve our neighbors in Franklin County and now we've done our build out and it's amazing to see these other traditional ISPs all of a sudden have interest. Other companies had the opportunity to do this long before we came around.”
