EASLEY, S.C. — Fiber internet provider Wire 3 has started construction on a $19 million network in Easley that will pass more than 18,000 homes and businesses, the company said, adding a second Upstate city to a South Carolina expansion that began in Anderson earlier this year.
The Easley project is fully funded, and Wire 3 expects to connect its first customers there as early as this winter, according to FOX Carolina and the Upstate Business Journal. The company said residents and businesses in construction zones will be notified several weeks before crews arrive, and that workers will carry identification and drive company-branded vehicles. Neither outlet reported a job count tied to the build.
Wire 3 Chief Executive Jai Ramachandran said Easley is an exciting addition to the company’s growing footprint in the state and called internet access central to how local businesses serve customers. In remarks reported by the Upstate Business Journal, he said the company looks forward to “serving its residents and businesses for years to come.”
The Daytona, Fla.-based company entered South Carolina in August with a $36 million fiber network in Anderson, which The Post and Courier reported was expected to reach about 35,000 residents and businesses. South Carolina is Wire 3’s third state with active service, after Florida and Georgia, according to FOX Carolina and The Post and Courier. The company has said its overall South Carolina commitment totals $147 million, and it has named Central, Clemson, Travelers Rest and Pendleton as future markets, a list that would carry the network into Pickens, Anderson and Greenville counties.
The Easley build adds to a busy stretch of business investment in Pickens County. The Upstate SC Alliance reported in September that Tyson Steel selected the county for its first South Carolina operation. Statewide, unemployment fell to 4% in September as employment reached a record high, HERE Greenville reported, a backdrop that keeps demand strong for housing, services and the infrastructure that supports them.
For commercial real estate professionals, a new fiber network is infrastructure that can shape tenant decisions. Office users, medical practices, light industrial operators and multifamily developers increasingly treat high-speed connectivity as a baseline requirement, and an additional wired provider can improve pricing and redundancy for buildings along Easley’s commercial corridors. Brokers marketing space in Easley, Central and Clemson may soon be able to list fiber availability as a selling point, while landlords and developers should watch Wire 3’s construction schedule to see which streets and business districts are wired first.
Sources: FOX Carolina, Upstate Business Journal, The Post and Courier, Upstate SC Alliance, HERE Greenville
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