C Spire and Entergy have completed an $11 million all-fiber infrastructure project intended to pave the way for advanced broadband Internet services in rural areas of Mississippi.
Contractors for C Spire are completing the longest continuous span of fiber-optic cable - 6,585 linear feet - in the company's history underneath the Ross Barnett Reservoir this week as part of wrapup efforts on the project that stretches over 300 miles across 15 counties in some of the most isolated and rural parts of the state.
Construction crews this week drilled 40 feet below the mud line under the lake bottom to place conduit and connect a 6,585-linear-foot section of the last remaining span between Highway 43 on the south end of the reservoir and Pipeline Road on the north end of the lake, which serves as the state's largest drinking water resource.