Clearwave Fiber visited Maryville and now Glen Carbon in its quest for expansion. 

Clearwave Fiber has eyes on more than simply expanding to Maryville in 2023. The company's marketing development manager paid a call to Glen Carbon's public services committee Tuesday to request permission to install fiber optic cable there, too. 

Scott Slemer, the village's public works director, said Clearwave approached Glen Carbon about installing fiber optics for both residential and business use. If approved, Slemer said Clearwave would quickly mobilize crews to install the cables. The company said there are four reasons they move so rapidly: cost, community impact, demand and their business model.

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Mike Phalin, the company's market development manager, gave a presentation to the committee, outlining the company's expansion plans.

Clearwave is a total fiber optic internet provider that offers business, enterprise and residential communications services in portions of Alabama, northern Florida, most of Georgia and parts of South Carolina besides southern Illinois. The company formed earlier this year after Hargray Fiber and Clearwave Communications merged. 

He said Clearwave is focused on bringing premise-based broadband services to residential and business customers, especially to underserved markets in the area. Phalin added that a benefit of this rapid expansion is the ability to service many more small businesses. Today, they have 14,000 high-speed data customers and more than 4,300 fiber route miles.

The company is looking to partner with cities and villages to permit and locate more than 5,000 feet of cable per day. According to a 2015 study by the Fiber To the Home Council Americas, having 1-gigabit internet service can increase a home's value by 3.1 percent.

Clearwave requests a blanket permit and setbacks for all construction without engineering map requirements in the permitting process; permission to design as construction progresses; an expedited permitting process with a maximum of two weeks between submittal and approval; a single permit fee and payment process; an escalation path if the company encounters issues with permits or locates; and publicity cooperation for the network.

Crews use conduit sized between 1.25 and two inches for the cabling and conduit is usually buried between 24 and 36 inches deep unless directed otherwise to avoid conflicts with existing utility infrastructure. If right-of-ways are congested, private easements are used as last resorts.

Clearwave said it does its best to avoid hitting other underground utilities by using industry best practices such as potholing, verifying locates to the extent possible and coordinating with gas, water, electric and other, existing utility companies. Cable drops to the home would be plowed in most cases. Special cases may require a boring or a hand dig but those would be exceptions. 

If the committee is in favor of the project, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) must be signed and other steps taken before the project moves to the full village board for approval on June 28 or in July. 

Charles Bolinger covers Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Edwardsville Township and the Collinsville School District for The Edwardsville Intelligencer. A graduate of Webster University in St. Louis, he has been writing for the paper since 2018.