Autumn is here and the trees on the I-95 corridor between DC and North Carolina are lit up with fall color, so it’s almost a shame we here at CTC no longer have an excuse to hit the road to visit our client in Holly Springs, NC. But, on the plus side, we’re really happy to announce the successful outcome of a project we are proud to see come to fruition.

For four years, CTC has acted as an advisor to Holly Springs as the Town’s government designed and built a visionary fiber backbone network. CTC has also assisted the Town in developing policies and strategies to attract private broadband investment. As a result, Ting Internet, a division of Tucows, Inc., has just announced it will bring “crazy fast fiber internet” to the homes and businesses of Holly Springs.

The CTC team served as advisor to Holly Springs in the Town’s efforts to engineer and construct a backbone fiber network to connect municipal buildings, and advised the municipal government to build a network with an eye toward the future. To their great credit, Holly Springs’ visionary elected officials chose to build a fiber network with dramatically higher capabilities than the need apparent at the time, in the knowledge that a robust fiber backbone would attract interest from private ISPs that recognize the potential to leverage that backbone to build their own fiber-to-the premises infrastructure more efficiently.

We were thrilled when Ting Internet jumped on the resulting opportunity, as that company has a proven track record of bringing quality infrastructure, an excellent end product, and top-notch customer service to communities, including our good friends in Westminster, MD. Ting plans to expand on Holly Spring’s existing fiber pathways and offer symmetrical gigabit internet access to homes and businesses.

A key factor in Tucows, Inc.’s decision to invest in Holly Springs was the fact that the Town not only was willing to lease excess fiber in its backbone, but also brought best practices to bear in its willingness to work with and facilitate Tucows’ efforts. Among other things, the Town offered efficient government processes, access to information and facilities, and facilitation and support – all of which boosted Tucows’ confidence about this community as an investment opportunity.

In a written statement, Tucows, Inc. CEO Elliot Noss said, “While Google Fiber and other providers race to get started in big cities, we’re finding that there’s also a lot of interest from, and opportunity in, smaller cities and towns that might otherwise get passed over.”

CTC is proud to have helped the Town of Holly Springs position itself as the most attractive site for Ting Internet’s next investment, so crazy fast internet can bring crazy fast economic development to one of our favorite parts of North Carolina.

Joanne Hovis and Matt DeHaven