The town of Holly Springs is interested in laying a fiber optic network that could lead to super high-speed Internet for local residents and businesses.
The Town Council voted unanimously to move forward with the project, which would install 16 miles of fiber optic cable in two loops underneath the town. Joanne Hovis is president of CTC Technology, which the town hired to design the network. She told the council at a recent meeting the service would start out as a communications system for the town, but lays the groundwork for Internet Service Providers to build commercial and residential connections."The idea here is the town is not going to offer services, but the town will make these digital roads available to private providers to go into places like the business park and attempt to meet some of those needs and potentially bring some competition there," Hovis says.
Holly Springs mayor Dick Sears says the council believes the town can break even by shifting funds from its current Internet service.
"I think we all felt that, yes, this would be a pay-for-itself kind of an option to take, so we're in-the-works process. But at the same time, we heard enough good news during that presentation that we want to continue the process," Sears says.
Hovis says the project would make Holly Springs' Internet 20 times faster and cost about $1.5 million. Town officials say they hope to start running the network next year. The council will discuss details of financing for the project at a meeting next week.
