By By ANNA M. LEE Managing Editor
At its meeting last Tuesday, the Brewton City Council voted to hire a South Carolina-based telecom company to consult on finding uses for the city's existing fiber optic network.
The network was installed in 1997, but the company that owned it went out of business last year. The city has since purchased the fiber optic line, and it is being used to provide internet to schools, the library and some city offices.
In December, Brewton Mayor Ted Jennings talked with Terry Metze, a Brewton native with a subsidiary of Spirit Telecom, about potential uses for the network.
Metze came to Brewton to meet with the mayor, community development superintendent Pete Diurno and city clerk John Angel earlier this year.
Spirit Telecom Fiber's contract with the city begins on May 1, at which time it will explore options for marketing the fiber optic network to telecom companies.
Though the network is not currently being used for high-speed transmittal, it has been tested and works fine.