Photo by Amy Wallot/LFUCG
Mayor Jim Gray makes an announcement of an agreement with MetroNet to build a fiber-optic network in Lexington during a press conference Nov. 14, 2017. Also pictured are MetroNet President John Cinelli and founder Al Cinelli.
Lexington is set to become the nation’s largest gigabit city following an agreement with Evansville, Indiana-based MetroNet to construct a citywide fiber-optic network.
The network will be capable of carrying an unlimited amount of data across a network of glass-fiber cables with “lightning-fast” upload and download speeds, said MetroNet President John Cinelli during a press conference announcing the partnership. A gigabit speed connection—or 1,000 megabits per second—is capable of downloading a 90-minute high definition movie in approximately 30 seconds, as opposed to 30 minutes over a cable-wire connection.
The projected cost of the project, which MetroNet will cover, is between $70 and $100 million with coverage offered throughout all of Lexington’s Urban Services Area. This will allow access for both residential and commercial customers—including schools, libraries, hospitals, research facilities, technology companies and more—throughout all of Lexington.
“We want to provide service for everyone who can use this technology,” Cinelli said.
The Urban County Council is expected to vote on a franchise agreement during its Nov. 16 Council meeting, which will grant MetroNet access to the city’s right-of-way to install its fiber-optic system.
Construction is scheduled to begin Jan. 1, and the company hopes to begin providing internet, telephone and television services to customers in Lexington as soon as summer 2018. Cinelli estimates that it will take between three and four years to complete the project.
Building a citywide fiber-optic network and providing gigabit internet service has been a priority for Mayor Jim Gray, who was visibly pleased in announcing the partnership with MetroNet. The only current gigabit city in the country, in which fiber-optic internet service is available citywide, is Chattanooga. Huntsville, Alabama, is on track to become the second and Lexington to be the largest.
“We are a University City, with growing jobs in tech sectors and advanced industries that need to be connected to the world,” Gray said. “We also have another need here in Lexington, and that is competition for television service to our residents.”
In addition to MetroNet’s fiber-optic internet service, the company will offer landline phone services and an Internet Protocol television (IPTV) service that carries as many as 240 channels which, as Mayor Gray was quick to point out, includes the SEC Network and coverage of University of Kentucky basketball games.
MetroNet also touts its pass-thru pricing plan, in which customers are charged exactly what the company pays for the television networks in the customer’s package without markup.
The company will also open a brick-and-mortar store in Lexington where customers can receive support, as well as try out the company’s devices and services in a living-room like setting.
MetroNet is a 100-percent fiber optic company that currently serves approximately 70,000 customers in Illinois and Indiana.