CDE To Offer Additional Services

The Clarksville Department of Electricity is now in the position to offer cable television service and high speed internet access to its electric customers. A majority vote in favor of the action, on the November 7 ballot, has allowed for the advancement of fiber to the home (FTTH) within the city of Clarksville.

“We have been operating FTTH on a trial basis to about 300 residential customers for the past 12 months,” said Steve Hopkins, CDE telecommunications manager, “And we anticipate the availability of fiber related options to all residents and businesses in the city by the end of 2008. The physical construction of the lines to our customers will begin immediately.”

The next step for CDE, in addition to the physical construction, will be contracting with a cable provider for television and internet services and developing a rate structure for residents and businesses who choose to have CDE provide their television and/or internet service. “The preliminary work; acquiring inventory, securing funds, and winning approval for additional services, has kept us busy this far,” Hopkins added, “Now the real work begins.”  The purchase of a facility on Madison Street, that will house the new department, was finalized this month and will be occupied as soon as renovations are complete. Customer service calls for the new options will be fielded by local customer service representatives. “We believe it’s important to keep our service calls handled locally to maintain our currently established high approval rating. We anticipant bringing several more service reps into the department to assist our customers,” Hopkins said.

CDE President Kenneth Spradlin was pleased with the margin of approval from city residents on the referendum vote for additional services. “We needed the approval from our customers to move forward at a quicker pace on fiber to the home”, Spradlin said, “This move allows for the revenue from cable and internet services to off set the cost of construction. And residents will benefit by having an additional choice of cable and internet providers and with enhanced electric service.”  CDE will now have the ability to remotely read, connect and disconnect electric service, and improve outage management. Customers will also have the ability to choose monthly payment dates.