Poplar Bluff Housing Authority Announces Public-Private Partnership to Expand High-Speed Internet Availability to its Residents.
(Pictured from left, Darrin Taylor, CEO Executive Director of PBHA and Eric Arnold, General Manager Circle Fiber Poplar Bluff at the Housing Authority office located @ 302 N E St.)
Fiber-to-the-premises project will deliver broadband services to all the units in the Twin Towers, Hillcrest, Wilson, Duplexes, and Cottages.
Poplar Bluff, Missouri January 15th, 2023— Officials at the Poplar Bluff Housing Authority and Circle Fiber have a new public-private partnership that will result in the delivery of a state of the art fiber-optic network offering ultra-high-speed fiber broadband services to resident of the Poplar Bluff Housing Authority.
The partnership mirrors the ConnectHomeUSA public-private collaboration and is led locally by the Poplar Bluff Housing Authority to connect residents to free or affordable in-unit Internet service and the training to use the service. The fiber-to-the-premises project will make broadband internet service with symmetrical speeds available to the 576 units in the various properties.
Circle Fiber has worked with the Poplar Bluff Housing Authority to develop an Affordable Connectivity Program product that will assist the residents in obtaining the platform for the future at prices that start at no cost to the residents.
“For Poplar Bluff Housing Authority residents this is a monumental opportunity. Access to reliable and economically feasible broadband has become a necessity for access to education, employment, health care and livelihood” said Darrin Taylor, CEO Executive Director of PBHS.
“Our residents will be able to gain access to the technology of the future – today! By providing an affordable platform to the units it will allow our facility to drive the services and applications needed in today’s age of technology.”
“Circle Fiber is working on multiple fronts to close the digital divide, and we’re proud to work with the Poplar Bluff Housing Authority to benefit the residents” stated Eric Arnold, General Manager for Circle Fiber in Poplar Bluff. “The PBHA leaders and Board of Commissioners have prioritized the need for all residents to have access to reliable and affordable broadband, and their commitment to this project will meet that need with an extensive, fiber-to-the-premises network offering up to gigabit-speed broadband along with our Affordable Connectivity Program.”
About Poplar Bluff Housing Authority
The mission of the Housing Authority of Polar Bluff is to assist low-income households through the provision of decent, safe, and affordable housing, to create partnership awareness with the City Community and local organizations, to improve the quality of life, promote self-sufficiency and economic vitality, ensure fair housing, and to encourage affordable housing opportunities for persons of low to moderate income. The Poplar Bluff Housing Authority pursues these goals by using existing federal programs to the maximum feasible extent, by linking with other service provers, and by creating new opportunities of its own design.
About Circle Fiber
Circle Fiber, a division of Big River Communications, is the only 100% Fiber to the Premise Internet provider in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Circle Fiber is deploying a scalable, reliable, and cost effective network to commercial and residential customers in the region.
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