In this episode, Chris Mitchell, Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiatives for the Institute for Local Self Reliance, interviews Gene Scott, the General Manager of Outside Plant for Greenlight. Greenlight is Wilson, North Carolina’s community-owned, fiber-to-the-home network that offers symmetrical gigabit broadband to every home and business in the community. Gene talks about the development of this network, why they chose fiber optics, and how the properties of that technology are future-proof. He recounts the story of their start in early 2007 and growing to a size of more than 10,000 customers today (almost half the households in a community with three providers). In their next phase, the enterprise has partnered with Wilson Community College to train young (and not so young) people in fiber optic skills so they can enter this dynamic field with a two-year community college degree. Finally, they will complete construction early next year on the “Gigeast Exchange,” a downtown, digital innovation hub, where anyone who has small business, new tech, ideas are welcomed to be part of Wilson’s future by bringing their ideas into the Exchange to learn how to implement and market them. Learn more @GigEast, @Greenlightnc
