Cajun Broadband Testifies on Fiber Burial Best Practices
Cajun Broadband is committed to bringing high-speed internet to rural Acadiana while minimizing disruptions to our communities.
On Monday, August 12th, our team headed to the State Capitol to testify before the Commerce Committee on preventative measures to reduce damage during fiber burial. We understand the importance of preserving neighborhood utilities as we expand our network.
Want to know more about our commitment to responsible fiber installation? Check out our Managing Director, Chris Disher's, testimony in the full committee meeting video. His remarks start at the 2:28:00 mark.
As Chris Disher stated during his testimony, "We got into this business in 2017 to help ourselves, me and my partner, because we didn’t have internet—we were in a rural community. We soon found out how much the need was throughout the state, so we’ve quickly grown into 8 parishes, and we work very closely with the Gumbo office.
When Gumbo 1.0 came around, we were very thankful to the senator, the chairperson, and the committee yourselves for the forethought to help the community with better internet. Gumbo 1.0 was centered around working with your local government. They encouraged it and wanted to get support and letters, which was great because it kind of fosters yourself with the community.
When you are rolling on in, you want to have fiber under the ground, and you want to have battery backup, because that prevents the Ida damage, the Laura damage, or everything being on telephone poles. Your end game is really wanting fiber that’s almost unlimited. Our network, and his, is good for 10,000 Mbps up and down. We can change equipment, we can double that, we can triple that, and it’s storm ready. That’s what you want, but the trade or pain point is to go underground; there are other utilities that are in there. We found it very encouraging to work closely with our local communities, with our senators, and representatives.
On a more local level, with the police jury and the council members, to know we’re there. We’re with the mayors, and we’ve talked to the water districts very early on. They know us by name, and if something happens, the most important thing is not blame; it’s fixing. You don’t want to roll up into a community with a big Cajun Broadband sign on the side of your reel and take someone’s water out, so they can’t take a shower. It’s very important to keep yourself in good grace with the community and to be good stewards of what’s been bestowed to you to work with the community."
We're dedicated to bringing the best broadband technology to our neighbors while respecting our communities.