News

Increased fiber optic capacity in Decatur

Decatur, AL – The City of Decatur and Southern Light, a Mobile-based provider of fiber optic infrastructure solutions, announced today a strategic expansion in Decatur. In 2015 Southern Light secured a franchise agreement with the City of Decatur, creating a framework for the company to build in city-owned rights-of-way. Since that time, Southern Light has been constructing its network to other telecommunications facilities, laying the foundation for expansion.

To date, Southern Light has constructed a central business district network that serves the City of Decatur and other businesses. With the expansion, Southern Light will support broadband capacity needs throughout the city, focusing on hospitals, businesses, non-profits, financial institutions, and government entities. One hundred percent of the company’s fiber optic lines are underground, making beautification and traffic safety added benefits on Decatur’s major thoroughfares.

“We are thrilled about expanding our network in Decatur,” said Andy Newton, president and CEO of Southern Light. “The City of Decatur has been very business friendly, outlining clear parameters that allow us to operate efficiently and effectively. This expansion will provide much-needed service to local businesses, carriers, and government entities, and we look forward to being strong corporate citizens as we build out our network in Decatur.”

“In our increasingly connected world, access to high speed broadband is critical. Southern Light will provide entities in Decatur another option, one that has been tested and proven,” said Brad Phillips, director of information systems for the City of Decatur. “With the agreement, we have achieved both cost savings and more capacity; it’s a smart investment for the city. Currently, Southern Light provides building-to-building connectivity for city hall, both annexes on Cain Street, the Decatur Depot, the Old State Bank, Turner Surles, and Ogle Stadium. We also are connected to the new jail and Morgan County Courthouse to allow for video arraignments and other law enforcement information processing,” noted Phillips.

“Southern Light’s expanded network will be an economic development asset for our community as we work to attract companies from across the country to Decatur,” said Mayor Tab Bowling.

About Southern Light

Founded in 1998, Southern Light designs, constructs and operates more than 6,000 route miles of fiber optic networks in the Southeast, delivering large bandwidth solutions to telecommunications carriers, governmental agencies and enterprise customers throughout the region. The company provides high resiliency services to the most demanding customers using its dense last-mile fiber optic networks.