Boyd County Gets High Speed Internet
Published Thursday 1 September 2022 00:00
Beshear and Webb attend the public announcement
CATLETTSBURG, KENTUCKY — About 19,000 homes and businesses in Ashland, Meads, Catlettsburg and surrounding portions of Boyd County will soon be hooked up to high-speed fiber-optic Internet for the first time, fiber-optic network provider Kinetic and government officials announced Monday.
“I want to applaud Kinetic for investing in high-speed Internet fiber that will benefit 19,000 homes and businesses in Kentucky,” said Andy Beshear, Kentucky Governor. “High-speed Internet is an important part of our plan to build a better Kentucky. It allows Kentucky citizens to stay connected to school, health services and family, and is also critical to the success of our state’s economy and future job creation.”
State Senator Robin L. Webb, District D-18, said, “I am very happy for the citizens of Boyd County. Thank you Kinetic for investing in our community that allows us to compete on a global scale with every other region in the world.”
High-speed fiber optic internet will bolster Boyd County’s economic development efforts and provide residents with “well-paying jobs,” she added.
“Fiber in our community will not only aid in our economic development efforts, but will also help us attract jobs from the new economy,” said Boyd County Judge Eric Chaney. “Our citizens can now work from home and do their schoolwork, which has been a bit of a challenge during the pandemic. I want to thank Kinetic for being a community partner.”
Colby Hall, executive director of the nonprofit organization Shaping Our Appalachian Region, said, “SOAR has made fiber a top priority for eastern Kentucky. Fiber optic can help Boyd County create new job opportunities and attract new investment to the community. Fiber optic broadband infrastructure plays a crucial role in growing and strengthening the local economy.”
Kinetic’s new Boyd County fiber project will serve approximately 13,000 customers in Ashland, nearly 5,000 in Meads and nearly 1,000 in Catlettsburg. The project should be completed by the end of the year.
Kinetic’s ultra-fast gigabit broadband allows users to download 1,000 megabits per second, which is 100 times faster than the average US internet speed. Kinetic’s gigabit broadband runs over a fiber optic line, which can reach much higher speeds than the traditional copper lines of most DSL and cable connections. It’s also immune to radio frequency interference that distorts video signals.
“When we say ‘High Speed for Here,’ we mean Ashland, Meads and Catlettsburg and Boyd County,” Kinetic State President Brian Harman said in the announcement. “We listen to our customers and make sure they get what they want, which is the best high-speed broadband Internet experience at home and at work, reliably and uninterrupted.”
Boyd County’s fiber optic project is part of a multi-year, $2 billion investment strategy to dramatically expand gigabit internet service in Kinetic’s 18-state footprint.
As a result of Kinetic’s network expansion, the company either has or will have fiber in every county it serves in Kentucky over the next two years. The company has invested more than $211 million over the years to expand broadband access in Kentucky.
Kinetic also recently broke ground on a new 30,000-square-foot regional headquarters at the University of Kentucky’s Coldstream Research campus in Lexington, with construction expected to be complete by the end of the year.
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