In a crowdsourcing model, the carrier actively solicits interest in broadband service among communities
Established as a wireless company in 1988 under the name Cellular South, C Spire primarily provides broadband service throughout most of Mississippi and parts of Tennessee and Alabama. The regional carrier is expanding its broadband internet services as part of a $1 billion investment in the development and deployment of fiber broadband and network enhancements across its three-state footprint.
“Starting in 2012, and then more aggressively in 2014,” explained Dave Miller, C Spire’s senior manager of media relations, “we started to diversify our businesses because we recognized that not only was wireless one of the most competitive industries in the world, but to continue to grow, we needed to diversify.”
As a result, broadband became a significant focus for the company. In 2013, the provider selected several communities in Mississippi for its “initial foray” into fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), and since then, has expanded that service to roughly 20 markets and recently passed the 30,000 single family residence mark, according to Miller.
Crowdsourcing model
One approach that C Spire took in addressing the needs of its customers in Alabama was a crowdsourcing model, where the carrier actively solicited interest in improved broadband internet service among rural and suburban communities. In this business model, adoption of services is driven directly by homeowner, business and renter demand.
This year, C Spire completed the integration of Harbor Communications, a broadband company based in Alabama that it acquired last year. The acquisition will allow the regional carrier to expand its footprint and address broadband needs along the Alabama Gulf Coast. The crowdsourcing model is underway in the area to help facilitate this expansion.
Jared Baumann, who was the senior manager of innovation and emerging products at C Spire until the end of 2018, spoke in detail about the crowdsourcing model during an interview with Dave Miller.
Baumann told Miller that historically, C Spire focused on providing fiber optic connections to hospitals, schools, businesses and large industries that require lots of Internet bandwidth, while its sister company Telapak Networks focused on bringing such services to smaller, underserved communities around the state.
“[C Spire was] never able to make a model work for the masses until we considered the crowdsourcing model,” he continued. “When we looked at the crowdsourcing model it allowed us to really say, ‘who really wants this infrastructure?’ Instead of using the traditional model, which most of the telecom industry has used for forever, which was ‘build it and let’s see who comes,’ it was a model of ‘tell us who wants it most and that’s where we’ll build it first.’”
He added that because last-mile fiber optic infrastructure is so expensive to deploy, it was invaluable to begin the process already knowing that these neighborhoods and communities had enough interest to make it profitable.
“It’s really opened up a whole new world of opportunity for us to provide these services,” he said. “Without that crowdsourcing model, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
For more information about how C Spire is tackling the digital divide, download this RCR Wireless News editorial feature report.
