Nathan Stubbs

LUS Fiber now serving all of Phase 1

by Nathan Stubbs

LUS Director Terry Huval says LUS Fiber is now hooking up customers throughout its entire Phase 1 service area. In the past few weeks, LUS Fiber has opened up service to two additional segments of Phase 1, covering the Saint Streets and parts of western Lafayette along Ambassador Caffery, in effect doubling the amount of customers it is now offering service to. "Phase 1 is ready for us to serve everything in it now. But we're still sending notices to customers. Probably by the end of next week we'll have them all out there. But if there's anyone in Phase 1 that hasn't received a notice and they contact us, chances are we're ready to serve them." Customers can also use the "service finder" tool on LUS Fiber's Web site to find out if service is available at their address.

In other LUS Fiber news, Huval says the business has received bids for renovating its retail center in the Acadian Village Shopping Center on West Pinhoook Road. LUS Fiber received 7 bids for the project.  The low bid, for $743,000, came from F. Phillips General Contractor Inc. of Ville Platte. The bid is approximately half of an initial cost estimate of $1.5 million that LUS Fiber received in the Spring, which prompted it to hold back on bidding the project. "We made some minor changes in the design which probably helped," Huval says. "But the biggest difference is because of the market. We had more contractor interest." LUS Fiber has been renting the retail space since last March in hopes of opening a customer service center and retail showroom. It is now slated to open in March 2010. For more on LUS Fiber's rollout, read last week's Independent cover story "Sales Call."