Time-Warner to offer high-speed Internet service
in Immokalee.
The road from Naples to Immokalee isn't quick,
but the Internet connection is.
Time Warner Cable launched its Road Runner
High-Speed Online service in Immokalee on Thursday. The cable
company already offers its cable and digital cable products in
the area. With Internet service, Time Warner is competing with
the town's phone provider Sprint, which offers its high-speed
DSL service.
Along with the Internet hook-up, Time Warner is
transmitting the Collier County government channel and Collier
public education channel in a higher quality than is currently
available.
Immokalee's getting what the coastal cities have
enjoyed for a few years now, said County Commissioner Jim
Coletta.
"Really what it is, is connecting Immokalee with
the rest of the world," said Chuck Hugan, Time Warner director
of marketing.
The high-speed Internet will put Immokalee on par
with neighboring communities and help it to grow and thrive, he
said, and it should benefit both residents and business.
"We expect it to grow like all of our other
markets," he said.
Time Warner wouldn't bring this to Immokalee if
it wasn't profitable to the company, Coletta said. The numbers
of rooftops and the median income is there.
"It's a result of what's happening," Coletta
said. "It will also help to fuel the future expansion of
business and give more reasons for middle-income people to move
to Immokalee."
Time Warner expects the customer profile to
change over time, Hugan said. Right now the community is 70
percent Hispanic, he said, and the company will advertise Road
Runner service in Spanish and English. But the free-trade zone
at the airport and Ave Maria will help draw people off the coast
and into the farming and migrant community.
A few years ago, the road from Naples to
Immokalee had nothing on it, Hugan said.
"Now it's a thriving corridor," he said.
Coletta wants Time Warner's presence to produce
better products from Sprint, which currently supplies telephone
service and DSL connection to the area.
Because of its distance and the low call volume
to surrounding areas like Naples and LaBelle, every call outside
of Immokalee receives a 25 cents charge.
If the call volume from the area increases, the
charge could go away, said Jason Duff, Sprint spokesman.
"It's not so much the Internet connection they're
going to get now," Coletta said of Time Warner's contribution to
the community. "It's what's going to come in the future."
Remaining competitive, offering expanded services
and adjusting prices is something Sprint is always looking into,
Duff said.
Time Warner could begin offering phone service
over the Internet to all of its area customers in early 2005,
Hugan said.
