WILSON, N.C. -- The City of Wilson will soon start offering its own telephone, cable TV and internet service. It's through a new, state-of-the-art, $26 million fiber optic network. Wilson is the first city in the state to offer fiber connections directly to businesses and homes.
“We're optimistic it’s going to be a superior service at a competitive price,” said Grant Goings, Wilson’s City Manager.
The fiber optic network, recently named Greenlight, will be available to every home and business within the city limits. Crews have installed about 150 miles of fiber optic cable, and the network is about 70 percent complete.
The City of Wilson borrowed $18 million to build the fiber optic network. With interest, Wilson will have to repay $26 million. Wilson's business plan predicts the network will break even in 12 years and the city will be able to repay the entire debt within 15 years.
The City of Wilson will soon start offering its own telephone, cable TV and internet service.
“Subscriber revenue will be sufficient to cover operating and capital costs for the system,” Goings explained.
However, an application filed with the State Treasurer's office to approve financing for the project shows that if Wilson's Greenlight service doesn't make enough money to cover its costs, the city can repay its debt by raising electric rates approximately 1.4 percent, raising the tax rate 5.6 cents, or a combination of both options. The city also says in the application, “these rate increases are not considered by the city to be unreasonable if they become necessary."
The two major companies that offer similar telecommunication services in Wilson are Embarq and Time Warner Cable, News 14 Carolina's parent company. They believe the city has an unfair advantage over its competitors.
“Private industry doesn't have the advantage of raising taxes or utility bills if the system fails,” said Melissa Buscher, spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable.
“It's inherently not a level playing field when you're facing a municipal local exchange carrier,” explained Tom Matthews, Embarq spokesman. “Municipalities can borrow money at different rates. Of course, there's the additional aspect that they're a taxing authority.”
But Matthews emphasized his company wants to work with Wilson to possibly help the city provide local telephone service.
Still, both companies say they plan to stay competitive in Wilson.
“We will continue to offer very attractive and competitive packages of products and services for both homes and business customers,” Matthews said.
“Competition is great for the customer and we're going to do whatever it takes to make our customers happy and to maintain positive relationships with our customers in Wilson,” Buscher added.
Despite the competition from businesses, Wilson city leaders are optimistic that publicly-owned Greenlight will be successful.
“Our concern now is how are we going to meet the demand we're experiencing,” Goings said.
Wilson's Greenlight network already has some business customers. The city plans to offer it to residential customers within the next three months. However, the city says it hasn't determined yet what it will charge for those services.
Time Warner Cable is the parent company of News 14 Carolina. News 14 Carolina will not be available in the city's new service.