Ritter Communications expanding fiber internet services to Jackson

JACKSON, Mo. (KBSI) – Ritter Communications, the largest privately held telecommunications service provider serving exclusively the Mid-South, is expanding its telecom and advanced cloud solutions to Jackson. This $2.3 million project is a self-funded investment that will benefit schools and businesses in the Jackson community. 

Ritter Communications CEO Alan Morse said this is part of a $300 million, 5-year expansion plan for the telecommunications service based in Jonesboro, Arkansas. 

“We’ve had some service territory and experience in the bootheel of Missouri, and we’re doing some work across the river in northwest Tennessee, and so it just made sense for us to extend our fiber and to try to reach a little bit further into southeast Missouri,” he said.

Morse said because of the nature of this technology, the fiber internet services Ritter is bringing to Jackson are affordable. 

“As we expand into these new communities, we’re building 100 percent fiber from the ground-up, so it’s a state-of-the-art network, and because it’s a new network and it’s a single-delivery methodology, we’re able to keep costs low,” he said. “We think we can provide pretty good value to customers as a result.” 

Morse said compared to other technologies, fiber is versatile and can accommodate change. 

“It’s a much better investment, and we think when we go to a community like Jackson, we talk about it being a gigabit city, we think that’s something as the use cases evolve and as businesses need multi-gig services, the fiber will be able to accommodate that,” he said.

Morse said, for now, this is solely a commercial project, but if the need presents itself, they could expand it to provide fiber in homes. He also said projects like this typically take 12 to 18 months to complete.