LUS' fiber network should reach every resident within the city limits by mid-August.
LUS' fiber network should reach every resident within the city limits by mid-August. "I estimate that 98 percent of the fiber build out will be completed by the end of July," LUS Director Terry Huval writes in an e-mail to The Ind. "The last 2 percent will be completed within the early weeks of August." LUS originally scheduled to have the citywide network completed in early 2011. Earlier this year, it moved up its projected finish date to July 2010.
In other LUS Fiber news, the telecommunications business once again cut its anticipated revenue for the year in a midyear budget revision approved by the council on Tuesday. LUS reduced its annual revenue projection from $23 million to $11 million, took out a another loan from its utilities business, and cut adjusted operating expenses from $19 million to $12 million. LUS made similar moves in budget revisions last year to compensate for a delayed launch in the fiber business.
Huval told the council that the nascent business is meeting its projected break even target of 23 percent market penetration. The Advocate reports Huval adding that revenues may have been more in line with projections had the city launched a more aggressive marketing campaign, but that a decision was made to wait until the service was available to more residents in order to seek more impact from its advertising buys.