C Spire Expands Availability of Homeowner Pre-Registration for FTTH Initiative

RIDGELAND, MS - C Spire is expanding pre-registration methods for thousands of residents in nine Mississippi cities to sign up for the company’s ultra-fast 1 Gbps fiber-to-the-home Internet service. The company, which launched customized, pre-registration websites for residents in the cities of Batesville, Clinton, Corinth, Hattiesburg, Horn Lake, McComb, Quitman, Ridgeland and Starkville last month, introduced specialized kiosks in 13 retail stores Monday that allow consumers to easily and quickly sign up for the 1 Gbps ultra-fast Internet access as well as related digital television and home phone services.

Registration Kiosks Facilitate Signup Process
“Online pre-registration has been going well, but we want to make it as convenient and easy as possible for residents to sign up for these services wherever they are and whenever they want to,” said Gregg Logan, senior vice president C Spire Fiber. The 1 Gbps service promises Internet access up to 100 times faster than national average broadband speeds. C Spire hopes to start turning up 1 Gig service in the first fiber neighborhoods by the middle of this year.

As part of the registration process, residents in the nine cities are required to make a $10 refundable deposit and provide credit card information. The website for each city features detailed, interactive maps of fiberhoods that show what percentage of residents need to sign up to turn their area “green” and qualify for construction. The site features progress bars for each fiberhood that are updated daily to help residents get a “real time” snapshot of their success in getting neighbors, friends and others who live nearby to pre-register for the service. Registration percentage goals for each of the 80 fiberhoods in the nine cities vary between 35 and 45 percent.

“As soon as a critical number of neighborhoods have reached their percentage goals in a fiberhood, C Spire plans to begin construction - so there is a possibility that work could commence in more than one community at the same time,” Logan said. “We’re looking forward to bringing tomorrow’s technology to these Mississippi communities today because we know that this service has the power to transform communities into hubs for technology investment, economic growth and job creation.”

The nine cities were among 33 municipalities that submitted formal applications last October to be the first to bring the technology of tomorrow to their communities today. All of the cities approved franchise agreements with C Spire to pave the way for the start of the pre-registration phase.