Beshear, Webb attend public announcement

CATLETTSBURG, KENTUCKY — Some 19,000 homes and businesses in Ashland, Meads, Catlettsburg and surrounding parts of Boyd County will soon, for the first time, be equipped for high-speed fiber Internet, fiber-network provider Kinetic and government officials announced Monday.

“I would like to applaud Kinetic for investing in high-speed internet fiber that will benefit 19,000 Kentucky homes and businesses,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said. “High-speed internet is a key part of our plan to build a better Kentucky. It allows Kentuckians to stay connected with school, healthcare services and family, and is also critical to the success of our state’s economy and to future job creation.”

State Sen. Robin L. Webb, D-18th district, said “I am so happy for the citizens of Boyd County. Thank you to Kinetic for making the investment in our community that will allow us to compete on a global scale with any other region in the world.”

High-speed fiber internet will strengthen Boyd County’s economic development efforts and provide residents “with good-paying jobs,” she added.

“Fiber in our community will help not only in our economic development efforts but will help us to attract jobs from the new economy,” Boyd County Judge Executive Eric Chaney said. “Our citizens will now be able to work and do their schoolwork at home, which has been somewhat challenging during the pandemic. I would like to thank Kinetic for being a community partner.”
Colby Hall, executive director of nonprofit Shaping Our Appalachian Region, said: “SOAR has made fiber a top priority for eastern Kentucky. Fiber can help Boyd County create new job opportunities and attract new investments to the community. Fiber-optic broadband infrastructure has a vital role in helping to grow and fortify local economies.”

Kinetic’s new Boyd County Fiber Project will equip some 13,000 customers in Ashland, nearly 5,000 in Meads and almost 1,000 in Catlettsburg. The project is set to be completed by the end of the year.

Kinetic’s ultrafast gigabit broadband lets users download 1,000 megabits a second, which is 100 times faster than the average U.S. internet speed. Kinetic’s gigabit broadband runs on a fiber-optic line capable of much higher speeds than the traditional copper lines of most DSL and cable connections. It is also immune to radio-frequency interference that distorts video signals.

“When we say, ‘High Speed for Here,’ we mean Ashland, Meads and Catlettsburg and Boyd County,” Kinetic state operations president Brian Harman said at the announcement. “We’re listening to our customers and making sure they get what they want, which is the best high-speed broadband internet experience at home and at work, reliably and without interruption.”

The Boyd County Fiber Project is part of a $2 billion multiyear capital investment strategy to dramatically expand gigabit internet service across Kinetic’s 18-state footprint.

As a result of Kinetic’s network expansion, the company either has or will have fiber in every county it serves in Kentucky over the next two years. The company has invested more than $211 million in those years to expand broadband access in Kentucky.

Kinetic also recently broke ground on a new 30,000-square-foot regional headquarters at the University of Kentucky’s Coldstream Research Campus in Lexington, with construction expected to be completed by the end of the year.