AMITE—On Friday, Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller and local officials held a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of construction for the dark fiber ring around the parish.
Miller said that shortly after his inauguration in 2016 he learned how limited internet access was in many parts of the parish. “There were huge service gaps across our parish, even in areas where we presumed there was high speed internet access,” Miller said.
He said his administration committed to expanding access for our residents. While he did not know how to accomplish it initially, a friend and former colleague Brian Acosta sparked Miller’s imagination by telling him to “do it differently.” The idea—to have the parish build the infrastructure of a fiber ring through which service providers could connect new customers—was born.
Miller said that there were a number of starts and stops along the way, due to forces like COVID-19 and Hurricane Ida that were beyond the parish’s control. However, those events also proved how important broadband was in every part of the parish.
“If there was a silver lining to COVID, it was the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, which the federal government restricted for very specific uses. The fiber ring met those qualifications, making this project not only feasible but also funded,” Miller said.
Crews began digging the first fiber trenches last week. Work started in Amite and will work its way up US 51 to Kentwood. Miller said service could be available late this year or early 2024.
“This is a win-win for our parish. We are creating an underground fiber loop which will make these broadband connections less vulnerable to weather events and more reliable for our residents. By building the basic infrastructure, we also lessen the cost for service providers to bring broadband to our citizens, so we can extend the reach to even more residents. This is a prime example of making high speed internet accessible to everyone,” Miller said.
