May 18, 2018
CARTER’S CALL CENTER IDEA IS A GOOD ONE…BUT HURDLES EXIST
Republican Judge/Executive Candidate Phil Carter is zeroing in on call center jobs. The idea here is a good one. A major state project, known as Kentucky Wired, promises to bring Kentucky, and eastern Kentucky, specifically, into the modern world with high-speed fiber optic internet capabilities.
Over the last few years, some Lawrence County residents have benefited from remote call center jobs, which allows them to work from home and generally pays $9-11 per hour. With improved capabilities, Carter believes he can attract call center companies to Lawrence County. The question to answer is whether or not it’s possible.
To begin with, the Ky. Wired project has been in turmoil lately.
Kentucky’s lands are extremely difficult to build in, between the limestone and the hills and trees. The Kentucky landscape has already caused severe delays, almost ending the project this year.
The state legislature finally decided to continue funding for the project for another 2 years, as well as giving the authority to negotiate loans for any unforeseen delays and roadblocks.
Never the less, even if the project is completed, it doesn’t guarantee Lawrence County access the fiber network. What the state is building is a ‘middle mile’ network, as it has been called. Basically, the state is just laying the groundwork for private ISPs to come in and connect to their network, in order to provide services to customers.
There is the kicker, though. Kentucky Wired is only directly providing fiber optic internet services to government, schools, etc. Private customers will still have to have an ISP to provide their internet, but the state isn’t having much luck in that department. AT&T is one of the largest providers of internet in Kentucky and they’ve already said they have no plans of contracting with the Kentucky Wired program. It remains to be seen whether other companies will.
Assuming for a moment that the project is completed and companies contract to use the middle mile in Lawrence County, how do we stand apart from the rest?
In this, Lawrence County will certainly not be alone at that point, as other counties will be vying for the same call center opportunities with their newfound internet capabilities.
So, how does Carter plan to make us stand out among the crowd? And, what is his backup plan should Kentucky Wired fail and not be completed? With the primary right around the corner, at least Carter has announced a plan, though I’d like to see it developed significantly more.
