The effort to increase broadband service in eastern Kentucky is expected to kick up a notch this month.
Kentucky Communications Network Director Steve Rucker offered an update Monday to the ‘Shaping Our Appalachian Region’ executive board. He says visible wiring should occur within two to three weeks. “You’ll see telephone lineman pole climbers up on poles stringing fiber, you’ll see large reels of fiber on trucks being strung down I-75 in eastern Kentucky,” said Rucker.
Rucker says motorists might see fiber wiring being installed from Somerset to Prestonsburg in the coming weeks. He says some eastern Kentuckians still are not convinced of the importance of internet service. “The resident has got to be made aware of why it’s important to them," Rucker explained. "Why is broadband part of their life now, just as electricity and water was 50 years ago.”
Rucker says expanding broadband has already created new jobs. He says about 40 people have been hired for the pole climbing crews. Rucker admits some county officials are also uncertain of the need to expand broadband to their areas. “We’re had some county judge executives, some mayors, be very enthusiastic about getting started and some are still trying to figure out why is broadband important to their community,” added Rucker.
Rucker says there is federal funding available to help with the cost of wiring up local communities. He says about 85 percent of the fiber network should be aerial. Rucker says the so-called ‘middle mile’ or midway point of the project is expected to run through 2018
