In this video launching ACACommunities, ACA Connects staff documents a visit to Barbourville Utilities in southeast Kentucky, near the border with Tennessee. We talk with Josh Callihan, who is General Manager of the Barbourville Utilities Commission, which has built a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network to support residents and small business owners with a first-class communications facility that might not be found in larger Kentucky towns and cities.
An Appalachian town with fewer than 3,500 people, Barbourville is staying socially and commercially competitive because of the technology investments made by Callihan and his team over the years. “We understood the importance of connectivity,” Callihan says. “So far, it has exceeded our expectations.”
With a connection to gigabit Internet speeds, Barbourville residents can stay right where they are and gain access to education and healthcare and participate in regional national and global markets, Callihan said. “We think we’ve got the capability for people to do that here in our community,” he says.