Jan. 9—TRAVERSE CITY — Residential and commercial customers of Traverse City Light and Power will hear much more about its fiber optic network in the coming weeks and months as the utility ramps up its expansion plans for 2024.
Light & Power is launching an aggressive marketing campaign as it plans to offer its new high-speed fiber optic internet service to thousands of new customers this year. The utility is utilizing social media platforms, billing inserts and mailings and will host a number of "meet and greet" open houses for potential customers as the utility plans to expand its fiber optic offerings throughout the TCLP service area over the next two years.
"We didn't want to market it to the whole community if the whole community couldn't have it," said Scott Menhart, TCLP's chief technology and information officer. "Now we can tell the whole community — here we come."
TCLP began installing its fiber service in 2020 as part of an estimated $25 million total investment, starting in the downtown Traverse City area and in the city's Boardman and Central neighborhoods. But there's been fits and starts in the early rollout. It's been complicated in part by the COVID-19 pandemic which temporarily shut down scores of businesses that were potential fiber customers.
Menhart said the pandemic also created labor shortages which hampered the utility's ability to find contract workers to help with installation, and supply chain shortages in the electronics sector.
But the project received two major financial commitments to drive it forward, including a $14.7 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture two years ago, and a loan of up to $13.5 million approved by the city commission last June. With those resources and the expanded marketing efforts in place, Menhart said the rollout will continue to expand into the Central neighborhood this year and into the Slabtown neighborhood on the city's west side, which are serviced by a data center located in a TCLP facility on Hall Street downtown. The utility is also installing a new data center at its headquarters on Hastings Street that will be used to service customers on the city's east side.
"We've got all our ducks in a row," he said. "This last portion is just construction....but we've got a significant project ahead of us."
The project has drawn criticism from both inside and outside the city. It's been labeled as a "boondoggle" by some who've said the utility is interfering with services that are already provided by the private sector, while some TCLP customers worry about higher electric rates to cover the costs if the project doesn't meet its financial projections. About $4 million has been spent on the network so far.