Lafayette, Louisiana has never sit still for private companies bypassing the heart of Cajun country. When electric companies refused to wire the city, the community elected to do it themselves. When Cox Cable and AT&T said no to providing the kind of cutting-edge broadband that would allow Lafayette to protect its reputation as an entrepreneur-driven community, publicly owned utility LUS constructed a fiber to the home broadband network for every resident and business. Today, LUS Fiber has helped transform the parish, with half the unemployment rate of the rest of the country and an attractive place for digital economy jobs. It has even helped curtail well-educated recent graduates moving away in search of high-tech employment.

“There really is no infrastructure more important in the 21st century economy than fiber,” said Geoff Daily, executive director of Fibercorps, a non-profit group promoting digital economic development in Lafayette.

Watch how LUS Fiber has transformed the lives of students, attracted new high-tech business, and promoted job growth with broadband infrastructure most cable and phone companies simply won’t provide.  (9 minutes)

Other stories of interest:

1. Publicly Owned LUS Fiber Launching Gigabit Broadband for Lafayette, Louisiana
2. Competition Works: Cox Business Unveils 80-100Mbps Broadband to Compete with LUS in Louisiana
3. Community Broadband Works: Knoxville’s High-Tech Jobs Move South For Chattanooga’s Fiber Broadband
4. Tippecanoe and Fiber to the Home Too: Indiana Community Says Yes to Fiber Broadband
5. Chattanooga’s Gigabit Fiber Network Part of City’s Digital Transformation & Job Growth