City's "Gigaport" Project Featured in State Magazine
By Jeff Toquinto on November 30, 2015
A project only being done in West Virginia by the City of Bridgeport already has the attention of other municipalities. Now, it’s starting to 
draw the attention of media beyond the region.
draw the attention of media beyond the region.
Recently, West Virginia Focus magazine ran an article titled “Speed Limits,” which focused on the expansion and limitations of internet speeds in the Mountain State. And inside the story was a sidebar on Bridgeport’s gigabit project known as “Gigaport.” The title of the secondary story is “Test Drive.”
As has been reported on frequently in Connect-Bridgeport, the city teamed up with Bridgeport-based internet service provider Citynet on doing a test area of 100 homes to see if there was enough interest to run high speed fiber internet service in that area. The results came back positive and now Bridgeport is the 
first West Virginia city looking to add super high spend internet to be utilized by all residents and businesses that desire it.
first West Virginia city looking to add super high spend internet to be utilized by all residents and businesses that desire it.
A total of $5 million is available for the project after the West Virginia Economic Development Authority gave a thumbs up to a $3 million loan to the Bridgeport Development Authority. That loan, along with other dollars, will come to $5 million needed to do the expansion over several years in the city. The Bridgeport Development Authority is primarily serving as a go-through agency as the loan will be paid back by Citynet through fees recouped for the service.
Bridgeport City Clerk Andrea Kerr and Citynet CEO Jim Martin are quoted in the article. Resident Jay Krohe, who lives in the test area and signed up for the service, is also quoted and raves about the difference between his past service and the new high speed service that Citynet officials say is up to 100 times faster than existing service that is available in Bridgeport.
West Virginia Focus is published by New South Media, Inc. They are based out of Morgantown.
Editor's Note: Citynet employee Kenny Heck shows some of the area where the Gigaport system is based out of from the company's city location. The bottom photo is of the article that features the project.
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