Tombigbee, federal, state officials celebrate completion of $145M fiber internet project in rural Northwest Alabama

HAMILTON – 100,000 people: The number of residents in rural Northwest Alabama who will gain improved access to the information superhighway.

$145 million: The investment by the Tombigbee Electric Cooperative to create the on-ramp for those residents.

4,200 miles: The number of miles of fiber installed.

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger joined other officials today to celebrate the co-op’s completion of a fiber-to-home internet project.

The project required installing 4,200 miles of fiber across eight Alabama counties by the co-op’s Tombigbee Communications subsidiary under its Freedom FIBER brand.

This achievement fulfills a vision by Tombigbee Electric’s Board of Directors nearly a decade ago and advances the core mission of electric cooperatives, bringing essential connectivity to the communities they serve.

“If you look back to 1936 and the Rural Electrification Act, the whole premise of why co-ops were created was to get electricity outside the densely populated cities and into rural parts of America so as not to leave anyone behind,” said Britton Lightsey, president and CEO of Tombigbee Electric Cooperative. “We followed that same principle with our fiber project. If you look at your more densely populated areas, they were mostly covered as far as internet service. But when you went outside your cities, there was nothing in rural communities.

“Our board made it a mission that if they were going to do this project, they would follow the same mission of why the cooperatives exist – to take service to everyone and not leave anyone out.”

The celebration was held at Tombigbee Electric’s headquarters in Hamilton and included speakers, food and hors d’oeuvres. More than 250 people attended.

“I had the privilege of standing right here in this same building back in 2018— alongside Governor Kay Ivey and then-Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue — when we announced the creation of the USDA’s ReConnect Program,” Aderholt said. “That day, we set out on an ambitious mission: to make sure that families, businesses and schools in rural communities across our state had the same access to high-speed internet as anyone in Birmingham or Huntsville or Mobile.

“And today, thanks to the leadership and vision of Tombigbee Electric Cooperative, that mission has been accomplished.” 

In addition to Aderholt, Ledbetter and Gudger, others at the event included state Reps. Bryan Brinyark, Tracy Estes, Jamie Keil and Tim Wadsworth; state Sens. Gerald Allen and Jack Williams; Randall Shedd, former state representative and former chairman of the Alabama Digital Expansion Authority; Secretary of State Wes Allen; and representatives of Gov. Kay Ivey and U.S. Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt’s offices.

Tombigbee Electric provides electricity to about 10,000 homes and businesses in Marion and Lamar counties. However, its Tombigbee Communications subsidiary offers Freedom FIBER high-speed internet service in Colbert, Fayette, Franklin, Tuscaloosa, Walker and Winston counties, in addition to Marion and Lamar.

Lightsey thanked Gov. Ivey, the Legislature, Aderholt and others for their support and assistance with the fiber project which began in 2017.

“If we were going to serve an area, we were going to serve the entire area and not pick and choose like other internet providers in the past had traditionally done,” said Lightsey, who joined Tombigbee in 2022 and took over as CEO in 2023. “Since day one, we’ve been following that mission, and improving the well-being of the citizens of the region, improving healthcare and connectivity to telemedicine, and improving the education capabilities in our communities.

“We started with zero miles of fiber in 2017. Today, we sit with more than 4,200 miles of fiber,” Lightsey said. “We had zero internet customers in 2017. Today, we sit with over 27,000 customers from residential, business and industries throughout our region.”

Lightsey said the co-op is still connecting approximately three dozen new customers to Freedom FIBER each day. In addition, it continues to collect service registrations through its website, www.freedomfiber.com, and maintains a growing list of customers awaiting their turn to be connected.

He touted the community nature of Tombigbee’s customer service. 

“If you have any issue, you are calling Hamilton, Alabama,” he said. “You’re not calling another country or even another state.

“Likewise, you’re not sending your money to an entity outside of the state. Every dollar you spend goes back to invest in our communities where we live and where we work and where we operate our business.”