EPB Fiber To Home Project To Create Fiberoptic Hub, Attract Business & Industry

When EPB's "fiber to the home" project finally gets to your home, expect a 5 to 15% discount over what's available now and an increase in content.  "We'll be able to offer as many channels as we can afford to or folks want, but more importantly we will not be constrained by the number of high definition channels we'll be able to offer," says Katie Espeseth, EPB's VP of Communication Systems.

On-line speed wont be constrained either.  Right now, the best available in the region clocks in at 8 mb per second. EPB plans to offer services ranging from 10 to 50 mb.  Joe Ferguson, EPB Board Director says it's "going to set us apart and leapfrog for us other communities and what they're doing."

So much so, in a few years, Chattanooga may be known as the hub for fiberoptics in the South.  Ferguson says the ability to quickly move large packets of data sits as the fourth greatest priority for growing businesses.  "There have been several firms that either have announced they're moving in or expanding, one of the reasons for that was what we have told them we will be doing," says Ferguson.

That list includes Alstom and Adaptive Methods.

EPB actually starting laying the groundwork to make Chattanooga a fiber hub about a decade ago, putting fiber underground downtown.  Some of Chattanooga's largest employers, like Unum and Blue Cross, currently link to fiber provided by EPB.

Last summer, the power provider starting running fiber to its substations for electrical benefits.  Later this year, EPB will start connecting homes directly to that fiber backbone.

EPB anticipates it will take 3 years to link 80% of its customer base to this technology.  The rollout will be similar to how EPB fixes a power outage, going to as many homes as possible first, beginning with densely populated areas downtown.