Bids for fiber to home project to be opened

Melodie Phelps, News Editor
Wayne County Outlook

Monticello June 23, 2009 01:26 pm

— Bids for the first phase of the fiber to the home project should be opened by the end of July, according to a project update that was provided to the Telecommuni-cations Board during a meeting held on Wednesday, June 17.
The first phase of the project includes the fiber backbone for the project, and will be paid for by the $1 million in grant money through the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority.
Board chairman Greg Latham said that the project will be advertised for bid in early July and a pre-bid meeting has been set for about July 15.
Estimates are that actual construction would begin in early October and the initial phase of the project would be completed before the end of this year.
The Telecommuni-cations Board has secured RUS loan funds that will complete the project. Latham said that once the initial phase is completed, RUS loan funds should then be released for the remainder of the fiber to the home project.
Also during the meeting, the board continued its discussion about the possibility of dropping several of the premium movie channels from the local cable lineup. That would allow the cable system to add four or five more channels to their basic lineup.
Latham noted that even without dropping any premium movie channels there is a possibility of adding two or three more channels. One of those will be ESPNU, since they will carry University of Kentucky basketball games this year. Another channel that seems to be popular is the RFD channel, according to Latham.
Community Telecom Service customers will have the chance to provide input into the decision making process, since they will receive a survey in their next bill. This will allow CTS to see what channels are the most requested.