Owensboro FiberNet Reaches 1,000th Subscriber

Sixteen months ago, OMUFiberNet in Owensboro, Kentucky, was about to celebrate the 500th subscriber. Now, that number has doubled, reports that Messenger-Inquirer.

Owensboro Municipal Utilities (OMU) has taken a deliberate, steady approach in expanding the network since the 2016 pilot program. Residents and businesses in the community are signing up at a faster rate than anticipated, says OMU telecommunications superintendent Chris Poynter. The utility had not expected to reach the 1,000 mark until late spring.

The Messenger-Inquirer reports that at a recent Owensboro Utilities Commission meeting, Poynter told commissioners:

Beginning next month, OMU will work to provide internet service to its third segment, or a large portion of Owensboro, The new segment, which will extend the service to about 3,800 potential customers, will run east from South Griffith Avenue, with Griffith Avenue and East 20th Street as its northern borders and College Drive and West Byers Avenue as its southern borders, to Breckenridge Street.

Construction on the third segment is scheduled to start in January and end around May 2020. 

Poynter said there is a backlog of about 110 customers, with a waitlist that extends into late February and early March. About 14 percent of potential customers are using the service. Poynter said customers on the waiting list are completed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

 “Business is growing and doing well and having a backlog and the problems that Chris mentioned are problems of growth,” said General Manager Kevin Frizzell at the meeting.

OMUFiberNet offers three tiers of service with all speeds symmetrical:

  • 50 Mbps for $49.99 per month
  • 100 Mbps for $69.99 per month
  • 1 Gbps for $99.99 per month

Subscribers also pay a one-time installation fee of $49.99.

OMU plans to blanket the city with Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and expects to finish the project by 2023.