Summit Broadband offers sneak peak at its broadband internet pricing in Lakeland

Sara-Megan Walsh, The Ledger
·4 min read

LAKELAND — An Orlando-based internet provider partnering with Lakeland to bring broadband to the city gave residents a first glimpse of its services on Monday.

Summit Broadband plans to begin offering internet service to 1,000 homes in April, according to its Project Lead Christopher Cusson, with rollout to 5,000 homes by June. These will be its first residential customers since signing into a private-public partnership with the city last year.

Broadband will be available in a few zip codes during the first phase. The geographic area this covers is at the heart of Lakeland, a "bullseye in the center," Mayor Bill Mutz said.

The company provided an estimate of its tentative pricing:

  • $39.99 for 250 mbps upload and downloads.

  • $59.99 for 500 mbps upload and downloads.

  • $79.99 for 1 GBps upload and downloads.

  • $99.99 for 2 GBps upload and downloads.

Summit CEO Kevin Coyne said these prices are still "very fluid" and may be subject to change based on their analysis of the competitors. This was a reference to Frontier, who only recently began offering services in certain areas in the core of the city core. The only other provider available for much of Lakeland is Spectrum.

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"You have awoken the sleeping giant by bringing us in," Coyne said. "They don't want to invest money until they have some competition. They got competition."

Brian Jones, Summit's director of residential sales, said he expects the 1 GB package to be the most popular offering. It's important for potential customers to know the gigabyte speed is measured based on a hardwired connection, Jones said.

"A lot of devices don't have the capability of receiving one gig," Jones said. "You lose speed when you don't connect to a hardwire."

Summit plans to begin rolling out broadband for commercial use in June, according to Coyne. H.B. Holmes, pastor of of Rhema Word of Faith International, was connected to Summit Broadband's network late last year. Holmes has been using a tower he has to transmit free wireless internet to low-income households within a mile of his church.

The company plans to continue partnering with Holmes to implement the fixed wireless system to offer internet to other areas. Under its contract with the city, it must contribute at least $20,000 per year for 10 years, or a total of $200,000, toward bridging the digital divide.

Lakeland signed a 10-year agreement, with an automatic 10-year renewal, with Summit in July to bring broadband internet service to the city utilizing its dark fiber network.

Oscar Torres, the city's director of information technology, said Lakeland has spent the past eight months laying miles of fiber rings to support Summit's infrastructure. To date, Torres estimates the city spent $42,982, largely on 619 hours of labor.

Lakeland hasn't dipped into the $100,000 set aside to augment or expand its fiber network to support Summit, Torres said.

Summit has not started its own construction within the city, Coyne said.

"Our competition has been doing all the damage you have seen," he said.

Summit will launch a website for customers prior to construction. It will answer frequently asked questions on construction and include a validation tool where residents will be able to check their own home address. Homeowners will also be able to get information on what's involved in construction and setup. And it will have a feature allowing residents to report construction issues, which are then sent to teams in the field.

Jones said Summit's installation process of directional boring creates "a lot less mess" than traditional methods used by others.

Once service begins, Lakeland will receive 10% of Summit's gross revenue for internet services, or at least a minimum of $144,000 a year. Under the contract, the city has the right to audit the provider's financial records to ensure it receives a fair amount.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Summit offers details of its April internet rollout in Lakeland