Bicknell – Residents here will soon have another option for high-speed internet service.
Montgomery-based RTC Communications announced Wednesday at a ceremony on the fairgrounds that it is working on a $4 million privately funded project to build fiber-optic internet infrastructure across the city, eventually offering what they say is the fastest internet yet. Services are available here.
Chief executive Kirk Lehman told the small crowd gathered in the exhibit hall, which included elected officials and others associated with the RTC, that he hoped to see some residents join the RTC as early as March and Open to all homes and businesses in May.
“We’re going to be operating on a very aggressive schedule,” Lehman told the group.
Mayor Thomas Estabrook thanked RTC Communications for its investment in Bicknell, likening it to the forward thinking that brought the Gossard Building to the city in 1956.
Under then-Mayor Bob Moore, a handful of people dedicated to improving the city came together to form the Better Bicknell Club, one of the results of which was the construction of that building, which led to other developments downtown.
“They’re dedicated, energetic people who came together and decided they wanted the community to grow,” Estabrook said. “The opportunities are the same today as they were then.
“This is an opportunity for community development,” he continued. “It’s going to propel us forward and make us the community that everyone is talking about.”
RTC Communications provides high-speed fiber optics primarily to rural communities in Martin, Davis, and Lawrence counties. Lehman said this is their first project in Knox County and the service could be expanded to other communities in the North Knox area later.
He called their expansion into Knox County a “good day.”
“We are delighted to be part of Bicknell’s growth,” he said. “This will be one of the most advanced fiber optic networks in the entire city of Bicknell and will rival any network in any metropolitan area in the United States”
He said the service offered through RTC Communications would eventually allow up to 1 GB of Internet service, and possibly 10 GB later.
He also called it a “robust and reliable” service “critical to the economic health of any modern community”.
“Today’s business customers need fast and reliable broadband to build a solid foundation to meet their future business needs,” he said, adding that households need it now to realize opportunities ranging from e-learning and e-commerce to telehealth opportunities, he added. everything.
If they don’t, “families feel trapped,” he said.
“But those days are behind Bicknell City,” he said.
Knox County, Indiana, Economic Development President Chris Pfaff also welcomed RTC Communications with open arms, calling Wednesday’s announcement a day for members of the organization’s broadband task force, which is tasked with attracting high-speed Internet providers to Underserved Regional County – A place that has always been a dream.
“That’s exactly what we thought,” he said. “good day.
“Bicknell will soon experience what it’s like to have the best fiber internet service (extended) connected directly to their homes and businesses.”
Bicknell does currently have two broadband providers, Frontier and Sparklight.
However, it does mark the first build of any fiber optic infrastructure.
