FTTH: Hurricanes won’t hinder La. muni fiber project

LAS VEGAS--The substantial fiber-to-the-premises project proposed in Lafayette, La., will proceed unaffected by the hurricanes that have ravaged the Gulf Coast this summer, Mayor Joey Durel assured attendees at the Fiber-to-the-Home Conference today.

Though the city is 125 miles west of New Orleans and only 30 miles from the water, Lafayette suffered only broken tree branches, thanks in large part to its elevation.

“Lafayette is pine-dry,” Durel said. “We’re virtually mountainous.”

The city took in large numbers of evacuees from damaged areas including New Orleans. Durel estimated his town’s population of 117,000 might have grown by 40,000 or 50,000 following the exodus of hurricane survivors.

Durel doesn’t anticipate any of the damage done to the area’s economies, or the shifting government priorities created by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to impede the city utility’s plan to bring fiber to at least half of Lafayette’s 55,000 homes and businesses.

In January, the city will begin attempting to sell a $110.5 million bond to finance the project, with a launch of services perhaps a year later, though Durel anticipates lawsuits from the area’s incumbent phone and cable providers to block the bond issue.

“We’re preparing for the worst,” he said.