Hope Kiwanis Hears Program on Hope Water & Light Broadband

The Hope Kiwanis Club on Tuesday July 22nd heard a program on Hope Water & Light Broadband from Brent Norris and Keegan Johnson.  Norris is a Broadband Supervisor with Hope Water & Light.  He joked they “keep the lights glowin’, the water flowin’, and the internet goin'”.

Norris said the fiber internet project was proposed just before COVID hit and when COVID died down, the project started back.  When Norris started with Hope Water & Light in May of 2023, they still had 75 pilot subscribers.  By July of that year, they had 250 residential subscribers online.  Construction was finished by the fall of 2023 and anyone in the Hope Water & Light service area could get on fiber internet.

A year ago, Hope Water & Light had 980 subscribers.  These included 920 residential subscribers and 60 commercial subscribers.  In the fall of 2024 Hope Water & LIght offered phone service.  As of this month, Hope Water & Light has 1,300 subscribers.  That breaks down to 1,180 residential customers and 120 commercial customers.  They also have 37 phone services.

Coming up this fall, Norris said they are working to expand bandwidth to deal with expected demand.  Right now, they offer 100 megabits, 250 megabits, 500 megabits, and 1 gig.  At some point they hope to be able to offer up to 10 gigs.  Current equipment offers 5 G service but they hope to expand to 6 G when possible.

Norris said they are more than just a service provider, they are a local utility committed to this community.  He also said their technicians are great and Keegan Johnson is teaching classes for certification.  Johnson said he has been with Hope Water & LIght for four years.  Johnson also noted an industrial concern has reached out to Hope Water & Light about utilizing their broadband and they’re working to come up with a plan to serve that customer.  He also noted they have back-ups in place.  He said they are preparing to become the fastest provider in Hempstead County.  Johnson said the increased bandwidth will help to better serve industrial concerns.  Also, they are working with UAHT on a fiber broadband technician program.  So far, 44 students have graduated from this program.  Johnson is also teaching in a program on the weekends in Pine Bluff.

The Kiwanians asked questions and greatly enjoyed the program on Hope Water & Light broadband.