JASPER, Ind. (AP) _ A telecommunications company will wire every home and business in a southern Indiana city with fiber-optic lines that will provide Internet service so fast that a two-hour high-definition movie can be downloaded in less than a minute.
The city of Jasper and Smithville Telecom announced a deal Thursday that will provide a full-gigabit network throughout the community of some 15,000 people about 40 miles northeast of Evansville.
Smithville Telecom CEO Darby McCarty says gigabit connectivity is 1,000 times faster than one megabit. He says the company will cover the approximately $7 million cost of building the network, expected to take three years to complete. Smithville Telecom is a subsidiary of Ellettsville-based Smithville Communications.
Once it's built, residents and businesses can become Smithville customers and access the fiber optic network.
