Brightspeed launches additional high-speed fiber internet service to area

Emily Hibbitts
·1 min read

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — An additional 110,000 homes in the Tri-Cities will have access to Brightspeed’s high-speed fiber connectivity.

A ceremony held on Wednesday celebrated the availability of fiber connectivity for thousands of homes and businesses across Northeast Tennessee.

“This event is to capture the notification that we are coming to Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia area,” Community Affairs Manager for Brightspeed Heather McConnell said. “We currently already have 50,000 addresses with our fiber network connectivity already, and that’s going to grow by another 100,000 addresses over our fiber build.”

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McConnell said the company wants to ensure people have the ability to get online to meet important needs.

“We want to make sure that people have the ability to go online, get access to online health care, education, and even give them work opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise,” McConnell said. “So we have an existing footprint here, but part of that transition is to include fiber. We also have other opportunities within those rural areas like Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia to obtain grants that would help us bring that high-speed fiber to areas that otherwise wouldn’t have that option.”

Brightspeed, originally launched in October 2022, aimed to make major investments to bring reliable fiber network to its business footprint.

“[T]hey had the goal to pledge to invest over $2 billion to bring the most futureproof, high speed, reliable fiber network to areas like Northeast Tennessee,” McConnell said. “So over the years, we realized, along with everybody else in the community, that high-speed Internet is no longer a luxury. It’s an absolute necessity.”

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