Southern Indiana Business Report
ELLETTSVILLE – Recognized as “Indiana’s most prominent independent telecommunications firm,” Smithville received national attention in August as a leading broadband enterprise, being named a leader in “building a fiber-connected world.”
The 101-year-old privately held company was named as one of America’s top 100 national broadband companies, according to Sean Buckley, editor-in-chief of Broadband Communities magazine.
“Smithville consistently has found and deployed creative and innovative solutions to expand broadband service, especially in underserved rural areas of Indiana,” said Buckley. “With an established reputation as an early fiber adopter and builder, Smithville continues to demonstrate quality leadership in bringing transformational fiber connectivity to residents, businesses and organizations in Indiana.”
Buckley noted that standards are high for selection in the top 100. Requirements to be selected in the intense annual competition include deploying networks, services and products intended to transform local economies or improve communities’ quality of life and introducing advanced technologies with “game-changing potential.”
The 2023 selection of Smithville represents the 15th consecutive time the company has been recognized with this national honor, the only Indiana-based company so named.
Smithville was highlighted in the Top 100 award overview for making “private investments of more than a quarter of a billion dollars” to advance fiber-based connectivity in Indiana. The review described how Smithville partnered with Bloomington-based Wininger Construction to “bring high-speed broadband to a new housing development near WestGate@Crane Technology Park,” which serves the nearby $2 billion Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) at Crane.
The coverage noted how Smithville supported the project’s expansion in 2023, creating “much-needed housing for a $84 million microelectronics campus now under development in the rural tech park.”
The company was named together with 99 other major national firms like AT&T Fiber, Calix, Charter Communications/Spectrum, Comcast Cable/Xfinity, Frontier, and others in receiving the honor.
“Being recognized by industry experts for consistent innovative performance is both rewarding and humbling for our company,” said Darby McCarty, chairman and CEO of Smithville. “Our dedicated, one-of-a-kind Hoosier-based employees get the recognition for being innovative and delivering high value for our customers.”
“Smithville continues a powerful focus to be an agile company capable of connecting communities and enriching lives,” said Paul Quick, president of Smithville. “We remain committed to deploying products and services that benefit our customers and solve their unique challenges.”
Founded over a century ago, privately owned Smithville has built more than 3,000 miles of fiber to serve its growing network, including 100-gigabit capacity nodes in Jasper and Ellettsville, and the WestGate@Crane Technology Park in southern Indiana. It is committed to next-generation connectivity-based services through its Smithville At Home and Smithville At Work service offerings.
In addition to its award-winning residential services, the company provides enterprise-level high-speed fiber-based connectivity, data consulting, network management and other services for businesses, university campuses, biotechnology companies, healthcare providers and government offices. Smithville completed and now operates a $4.5 million network upgrade that will allow it to offer wave-level connectivity from 1 Gbps to 100 Gbps, with the capacity to scale to 200 Gbps in the future.
Smithville is active in telemedicine and telehealth initiatives, particularly in rural areas. The company continues to direct its award-winning gigabit service offerings from its headquarters in Ellettsville, next to Bloomington and the main campus of Indiana University.