| Company type | Municipally Owned (subsidiary of Lafayette Utilities System) |
|---|---|
| Industry | FTTH, Telecommunications |
| Founded | Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S. 2004 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | City of Lafayette |
Key people | Joey Durel, Terry Huval |
| Services | Cable Television, Broadband Internet, Telephone |
| Owner | Lafayette Utilities System |
| Website | http://lusfiber.com/ |
LUSFiber is a municipally owned subsidiary of Lafayette Utilities System providing Cable Television, Broadband Internet, and Telephone services to the citizens of Lafayette, Louisiana. It is notable for being the first municipally owned company providing Fiber-To-The-Home services in the state of Louisiana, and one of the first municipally owned FTTH companies in the country.
History edit
In the late 1990s, the Lafayette Utilities System (the municipally owned utilities company) needed to upgrade its outdated microwave system for connecting their substations. LUS chose to upgrade with Fiber Optic technology. In 2002,after installing the system for their needs, they used the surplus fiber optic strands to provide wholesale service to hospitals, universities and the Lafayette Parish School System. When elected in 2003, Joey Durel started discussing the benefits of a municipal fiber network with LUS Director Terry Huval.
In 2004, the city announced its proposal for a municipal fiber network providing broadband internet, cable tv telephone services to the City of Lafayette. 70 percent of residents, and 80 percent of businesses responded positively to a market survey conducted by LUS. The city's telephone and cable to providers, BellSouth and Cox Communications pushed for state legislation preventing local governments from providing these services. Then-Governor Kathleen Blanco brought both sides together, and crafted the Local Government Fair Competition Act, making it possible for local governments to run fiber networks.
However, Lafayette wasn't in the clear yet. The state cable association, along with BellSouth, sued Lafayette, wanting the city to hold a public referendum. After losses in the district and appeals courts, Lafayette moved to hold a referendum. The big firms were trying to kill the proposal, knowing that by law, the city couldn't run it's own promotional campaign. However, that law didn't apply to citizen's groups, and soon, the grass roots group Lafayette Coming Together came to the project's support. The group launched a campaign explaining to benefits of fiber-to-the-home to the residents of Lafayette.
In 2005, the proposal was put to a vote. By a margin of 2 to 1, the residents of Lafayette approved of the city's plan. The city's legal troubles weren't over. In order to raise money for the project, the city had to borrow money through tax-exempt bonds. Again the state cable association and BellSouth sued Lafayette, alleging the bond ordinance didn't comply with state law. Lafayette ended up amending the bond ordinance after an appeals court loss. Even still, Lafayette didn't have the go-ahead to start. Two citizens sued in 2006, alleging that LUS was overcharging customers. Ultimately, the case was brought in front of the state Supreme Court, who ruled in favor of Lafayette.
In 2007, Lafayette was finally able to start issuing bonds. Construction started in 2008 on the network, and the first customers were receiving service in February of 2009. In the end, the citizens of Lafayette won. Lafayette would have a state of the art fiber network, and Cox Communications decided to choose Lafayette as the first place to roll out their super-fast internet service, providing speeds of 50Mbps.
Services edit
LUSFiber provides what it calls "VIP" service, Video, Iternet, Phone Triple Play services.
The company provides basic analog cable along with a digital option. They offer HD TV, DVR, Video on demand, and Pay-per-view with the digital option. They also offer their 'TV Web Portal. The portal allows users limited access to the internet through the TV, without the use of a computer.
Broadband internet is provided to homes from 10Mbps to 50Mbps, and to businesses up to 100Mbps. The service is symmetrical, meaning the download and upload speeds are the same. Many current telecommunication companies provide asymmetrical speeds, having a high download speed and lower upload speed. LUS' fiber network also allows for peer-to-peer transfers at speeds up up to 100Mbps