Residents, schools and businesses across Harnett County will soon have access to 100 percent Fiber Optic Internet services following a recent expansion announcement that Lumos, a high-speed internet provider with a presence in over 200,000 homes and businesses throughout North Carolina and Virginia, are continuing their recent rapid expansion throughout the state by entering Johnston and Harnett Counties as their fourth and fifth markets respectively.

The $50 million investment will build nearly 600 miles of Fiber Optic Technology across the two counties. For many customers in the Harnett County area, this will be their first time having access to the internet.

“Lumos is always seeking to expand into markets that don't have access to fiber today. That's the number one thing we look for, that the majority of the town or city area doesn't have access to fiber, because we truly believe that's the only technology that's really set up for the next 50 years,” shared Vice President, Market Development Derek Kelly. “And to be able to change the lives of these families and small businesses, we also look for community support, make sure we have engagement in support of the local community from county leadership down to the leadership of towns and cities.”

After connecting with area leadership throughout Harnett, Lumos will expand into Dunn, Angier, Coats, Erwin and Buies Creek. 

“Lumos is changing the definition of internet connection in communities across North Carolina,” said Brian Stading, Lumos CEO in a press release. “We believe that all towns, not just the big cities, should have access to a fast and reliable broadband connection. With our Lumos network available in parts of Johnston and Harnett County, families and individuals will be able to seamlessly connect to online learning, telehealth and remote working opportunities.”

The addition of Lumos in Harnett is a direct result of Harnett County’s 2032 Strategic Plan which falls under action 4.2: “increase the availability of high-speed broadband throughout the County” which was deemed by the County as a priority.

“We would like to thank Lumos for their investment in fiber optic internet for our Harnett County residents,” said Desiree Patrick, Harnett County Community Relations Director in a press release. “This announcement is great news for Harnett County. One of our strategic actions is to increase the availability of high-speed broadband throughout the County – this investment allows us to do just that. We look forward to residents and businesses in the County having faster and more reliable internet.”

Lumos will be updating outdated infrastructure by installing fiber internet, which according to the company; “provides communities with life-changing speeds, offering customers up to 385 times faster upload speeds and 30 times faster download speeds.”

“A lot of the infrastructure in the ground today in these communities is based on copper cabling, whether it's through a cable company or telephone company. Those networks were really designed for the last 40 or 50 years of telephone and cable television and weren't really designed to be a future proof technology for the internet,” shared Kelly. “With fiber optics, the main difference is around speed, and so when we build this network, customers will be able to subscribe up to five gigabits per second and it's a symmetrical speed so that you get the same amount of speed coming into your house is going out of your house.”

Through partnerships, the company plans to be a premier corporate citizen in the community, bringing economic development and connectivity to residents. Lumos’ expansion will not only change the landscape for homeowners, schools and businesses, but it will also bring job opportunities.

“We typically think of jobs as technicians out in the field and we definitely need those, but we have a large work from home presence across Virginia and North Carolina,” shared Kelly. “There’s a lot of opportunities for residents that don't want to be out of the tech field. There's lots of other opportunities for them to come join the Lumos team.”

According to Kelly, the $50 million is just the initial investment to build the network, but that number may change once construction begins in 2023.

“We do a pretty detailed analysis on the front end to just design what we think the network will look like. Everything from mapping out the roads and streets that we're going to be placing fiber on, to how much equipment we'll need to serve it. And then we just come up with a general model of how much that will end up costing us to build,” shared Kelly. “We have continued investment beyond that. Whether it's adding new neighborhoods or whether it's having personnel, they're in the area. We're in it for the long haul.”

Kelly said that there isn’t a concrete start date for construction to begin, but customers will be updated via email and postcards. Future customers are encouraged to sign up for updates at www.lumosfiber.com/builtforthefuture.