Fiber-optic projects by Peoples Telephone to make Quitman and Mineola into gigabit cities are in full swing and starting to make some great progress. 

Construction crews can be seen around both cities laying the orange fiber-optic cables.

Peoples Chief Business Development Officer Jason Slagle said the first two phases of the projects are underway in both cities and gave the following updates last week.

Quitman Phase 1 (north side), we are 100% complete with the conduit placement and fiber, and by end of the week we are looking at having all of the splicing completed. We should be able to move into the customer installs within the next two weeks for this phase. 

Qutiman Phase 2 (east side), we have completed the conduit construction and are currently working on pulling all the fiber in. We will be quickly moving into the splicing stage shortly.

Mineola Phase 1 (northeast section), we are about halfway through the construction phase and as soon as that phase completes we will move into splicing. I would plan that we are 60-90 days away from installs starting.

Mineola Phase 2 (business district east), we are about 25% done with construction.

“We are building at a modest pace, as we are trying to be mindful of not having too much equipment running on the streets and also not to overwhelm the utility locator crews,” Slagle said. “However, overall the project is moving at a good pace and we will be turning up customers as each phase completes.”

Both projects received funding support from the respective cities and their economic development arms.

Details of the construction phases can be found here:

https://www.peoplescom.net/fiber-construction/

As construction continues, be mindful of the following advice from Peoples:

“If you’re in an area where Peoples is actively building, you’ve probably noticed utility flags or paint on the roads and grass. These markings identify underground utilities like water, electricity, gas and telecom services. It’s important to leave these flags in place; crews will remove them once the project is complete.”