Frontier exec: 'Some' Durham residents will connect to fiber Internet within a week

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John West

American Tobacco Campus

Lauren K. Ohnesorge

Staff Writer- Triangle Business Journal

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The fiber wait is over for a select few in Durham.

"Some" residents will have fiber internet access by next week, according to Rhonda Lutzke, area president of Frontier Communications.

Lutzke, whose jurisdiction covers 12 of the 27 states in the Frontier footprint, is in town for CEO Maggie Wilderotter's big announcement Thursday – that Frontier will be bringing fiber Internet to residential and enterprise customers in Durham. Capitol Broadcasting has signed on as Frontier's first Durham fiber customer.

While more on the specific geographies involved will be released during Thursday's announcement, she does say the first subdivision signed on will be Carolina Arbors.

"Communities have been asking for higher speeds," she says.

And Frontier is delivering, she says, with speeds "up to 50 times faster to business and residential customers in Durham."

Frontier has invested more than $80 million over the years to upgrade and enhance its North Carolina network.

While she couldn't release specifics, the gigabit service will be a pricier tier that slower speeds, she says.

Frontier may be the first to bring fiber Internet to Durham, but it's the latest in a string of players planning to bring high speeds to the Triangle. AT&T announced similar plans earlier this year. Google Fiber is still mulling whether to bring its service to the Triangle. Additionally, RST Fiber, a smaller player out of Shelby, has announced fiber plans. Its service starts in Wake Forest.

Lauren Ohnesorge covers information technology and entrepreneurship.