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Barbourville Utilities introduces Blink fiber optic cable service

Fiber optic Internet with gigabit speeds, beginning Sept. 5

Trucks arrived in Barbourville last week carrying more than 90 miles of fiber optic cable.
Trucks arrived in Barbourville last week carrying more than 90 miles of fiber optic cable.

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. (Aug. 25, 2017) Installation of a new fiber optic cable network begins Sept. 5 in Barbourville, bringing Internet download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second to more than 4,000 Barbourville Utilities home and business customers.

The new service, named Blink — Barbourville’s gigabit link — is one of the first gigabit Internet services to be introduced in Kentucky. The 1 Gbps download speed — or 1,000 megabits per second (Mbps) — is more than 1,00o times faster than the current standard Barbourville Utilities Internet service.

“We are extremely pleased to bring revolutionary Internet technology to our community,” Barbourville Utilities General Manager Josh Callihan said. “Increasing broadband access is a top priority in southeastern Kentucky and we are proud that our community will be a pioneer for this growth.”

“With Blink, our Internet service is now at the forefront of broadband connectivity,” said Barbourville Utilities Telecommunications Director Jason Valentine. “I’m excited that we can now offer our customers gigabit speeds.  This is the future-proof upgrade that our community deserves.”

Trucks arrived in Barbourville last week carrying more than 90 miles of fiber optic cable that will be installed in four phases during the next nine months. In addition to hanging fiber, Barbourville Utilities representatives will go door-to-door during each phase to upgrade existing equipment at each customer’s home or business.  The equipment upgrade is provided at no cost to customers. Pricing and speed packages can be found online at Barbourville.com.

The city of Barbourville is no stranger to pioneering development and technology. In 1750, our city was home to the first settler’s house in the state. In the 1950s, Barbourville was the first city in the United States to introduce cable television. And in the 1990s, Barbourville established one of the first Internet cable modem systems in the country, and earned the distinction of “One of the 6 Best Wired Towns in the U.S.” from Yahoo.

For more information about Blink or to find out how you can sign up for service, visit us at Barbourville.com, check out our Facebook page, or call Barbourville Utilities at (606) 546-3187.