While proximity to railroads has historically been an advantage for companies, that hasn’t been the case for several businesses operating along South White Street in Downtown Wake Forest. In fact, operating adjacent to a rail corridor has impeded connections to the most modern Internet service. Instead of using the latest fiber optics that enable access to video, music, and data, these businesses still connect via slower, less-reliable coaxial cable.
But that is set to change under a new partnership between the Town of Wake Forest and Ting Internet, a Virginia-based company that delivers symmetrical upload and download speeds up to 1,000 Mbps to homes and businesses in municipalities across the country. Ting, a unit of Tucows, Inc. [Nasdaq: TCX], began working with the Town in 2020 to extend fiber to underserved neighborhoods and businesses, a partnership that has dramatically improved Internet access for Wake Forest residents and entrepreneurs.
At issue are legal complexities involving right-of-way access needed to lay down digital infrastructure. “Accessing rail rights-of-way is complicated and expensive and has been the death of many a broadband project in the U.S.,” explains Patrick Mulhearn, Director of Public Policy and New Market Development for Ting Internet. Mulhearn says the company is working with Town officials to bring high-speed data service to all of Wake Forest. “The Town will be subsidizing some of the costs of acquiring an easement that has been particularly difficult to navigate in that part of downtown,” he says.
Implementing the new service won’t take too long once right-of-way access is obtained, though it is difficult to predict when the technical work can proceed. “It depends on how long it takes us to navigate the easement process with the rail line,” Mulhearn says. “Once we have the access ironed out, it’ll take a few months to get it done.”
Wake Forest is one of 21 “Ting Towns” in the U.S., suburban municipalities that might not otherwise be served by fiber optics. Wake Forest has been the third of six North Carolina towns to work with Ting. Founded in 1992, Tucows (a play on “two cows”) is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Its 2014 acquisition of Blue Ridge InternetWorks, a Charlottesville, Va., Internet service provider, launched Ting’s strategy of bringing fiber optic service directly to homes and businesses.
“Ting has been a results-oriented partner to the Town of Wake Forest, and we are eager to collaborate with them to take care of this last, stubborn obstacle to providing the latest digital infrastructure to our entire Downtown business community,” says Jason Cannon, President of the Wake Forest Business and Industry Partnership (WFBIP). “The company has demonstrated its commitment to the Town through its quality customer service and civic participation,” Cannon says. Ting Internet, for example, sponsors community events like the 2024 Economic
Development Forum, a standing-room-only gathering held last week at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, co-hosted by WFBIP and the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce.
About 20 downtown businesses have been impacted by the right-of-way obstacle to fiber-optic access, Cannon says. They collectively account for approximately 135 jobs.
For Mulhearn, Ting’s commitment to Wake Forest goes beyond just his professional role. While his duties are companywide, Mulhearn and his family have lived in Wake Forest for the past three years. A Louisianan by way of California, he and his wife were seeking a southern community that would be conducive to raising their children. “Barbeque was high on my list of requirements,” Mulhearn recalls. After considering other popular Wake County suburbs, the couple came upon Wake Forest. “We took a jaunt out to Wake Forest and fell in love,” he says. “It has everything we’re looking for.”
