Calhoun County company brings high speed internet to more rural areas of Pontotoc County

Bruce Telephone's "We Connect" is making high speed fiber available to more than six hundred homes

PONTOTOC COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – High-speed internet is now available to people in the more rural areas of Pontotoc County.

Scott Foster had high-speed internet installed at “Seafood Junction” in Algoma about a week ago, and says it is already making a big difference.

“We’ve started offering online orders, to-go ordering, people can go online, pay for meal online, show up in back parking lot and pick that to go order up.  I can take care of placing orders for my inventory I have to replenish every week, sometimes my phone app would crash because I didn’t have enough speed, now when I connect, it’s instant,” Foster said.

The popular restaurant was the site of a ribbon-cutting, announcing the availability of high-speed internet in southeastern Pontotoc County, through ‘We Connect Fiber.”

Jay Vanlandingham is general manager of Bruce Telephone Company, which owns “We Connect Fiber.”

He says the response from the new customer base has been overwhelming.

“Very receptive, the community has been excited about this, this is an opportunity they’ve never had, one that was needed.  Now that it’s here, there’s ideas and opportunities that once were thoughts, that’s now a reality for these people,” Vanlandingham said.

Laying lines and building infrastructure for high-speed fiber is costly, that’s why state lawmakers have pledged to allocate more money to help bring high-speed internet to rural Mississippi.

“Last year, we appropriated 150 million dollars for broadband, want to do something similar this year.  We want to make sure every child in Mississippi has the availability at their house,” said State Senator Ben Suber, who represents District 8.

The chairman of the state’s Public Service Commission says high-speed internet will eventually be available across the entire state.

“It’s coming, it’s a slow process, putting out all these thousands and thousands of miles of lines takes time, we’re going to come to get to you and continue to fight and move it forward,” said PSC Chairman Dane Maxwell.

More than 600 homes will be able to receive high-speed internet through “We Connect” with the latest expansion.

Work on Phase Two of the high-speed internet expansion in Pontotoc County will get underway soon.