Cullman Electric Cooperative has announced plans to expand Sprout Fiber Internet into new areas of its service territory beginning in 2022.

More than 9,000 Cullman EC members are included in the 2022 expansion area. To view a map of the areas where Sprout will be expanded, visit cullmanec.com/sprout.

“We are excited to make Sprout Fiber Internet available to more members of Cullman Electric Cooperative,” said co-op CEO Tim Culpepper. “Our ultimate goal is to make Sprout available to every co-op member. This project is a massive undertaking, and we understand everybody needs this service now. In order to reach our ultimate goal, our 2022 expansion will focus on bringing service to areas with a combination of the fewest options for reliable internet service and the highest demand expressed among co-op members. The revenue generated from subscribers in these areas will help provide the financing to expand Sprout even further in the years to come.”

Construction on the expansion began in October, and subscribers in the 2022 expansion area will be able to receive service starting in May 2022.

Sprout was launched in June 2020 with a phase 1 goal to connect Cullman EC offices and substations to fiber internet, along with 12,000 members who live along the fiber loop around the system. More than 75 percent of the phase 1 loop is now complete, and Sprout connected its 1,300th subscriber in October, less than 10 months after the first subscriber connection.

“We served a lot of members in Phase 1, but we know many areas still don’t have access,” Culpepper said. “For the first phase of this project, we focused on what we could accomplish in the first year. That’s what we are going to continue to do moving forward. We have looked at what we can accomplish in 2022, and we feel we can provide Sprout to even more members. We have built a solid foundation for Sprout, and now we’re ready to grow it.”

For more details on Sprout Fiber Internet, visit cullmanec.com/sprout.