NEWBERRY, S.C. — Newberry residents now have more options for faster internet services and local leaders are hopeful this will attract more opportunities for their city.
"If there's a will, there's a way," said city manager Matt DeWitt.
After thinking outside the box, city leaders said after several rejections and three years of work, they have finally completed their own fiber network project.
"We wanted to have faster internet in Newberry, and Newberry is just a little bit too small for the big national companies or small internet company to invest the money into Newberry it takes for broadband fiber," Mayor Foster Senn said. "So, our city government looked at it and said,' what if we did it ourselves.'"
Senn said this is something many residents wanted and needed in the area.
"We wanted to take it a step further," Senn said. "We wanted our business community to be able to compete, and they were saying, 'look if we're going to sell things on the internet and have e-commerce, than we got to have faster internet,' so it's good for our business community."
More than 4,000 homes have access to become subscribers with the city's partner WCFIBER of Abbeville.
Senn said the project was completed at a time it was most needed.
"This would be a good project anytime, but it's been really fortunate now during the quarantine and things. Whether it's people working from home or students, to have fast internet is just a real blessing," Senn said.
DeWitt agrees that this is a major step for everyone.
"Not many cities in South Carolina claim to be a gig city, and I think that's going to attract businesses and residents alike," DeWitt said. "I really think Newberry is putting itself on the map for folks to live, run their business and raise a family."
Senn said everything has been working great and encourages other towns to bring fiber to their communities.