Bolivar Energy Authority Form Partnership with Aeneas Internet and Telephone.

Broadband via Gigabit fiber coming soon to all Bolivar Energy Authority Customers.

Bolivar, Tenn. – August 8th, 2022 – Bolivar Energy Authority (BEA) and Aeneas Internet and Telephone announced today that they have formed a partnership to build and expand a Gigabit fiber network to bring Broadband communications within the BEA service area. With the lack of availability to Broadband for many people, and with it being such a vital element in our daily lives, this project aims to close the digital divide here in West Tennessee. With the construction of a 100% fiber, high-speed broadband network already underway as of late July 2022, BEA will begin to build with the goal of beginning to serve customers by late fall 2022. Together, BEA and Aeneas will expand broadband service to over 15,000 rural homes and businesses in Hardeman County and the surrounding counties.

“We conducted surveys throughout the territory, and the response was overwhelming. The community is starved for reliable and affordable internet service, and that’s what we are going to provide.” said TonyKirk President / CEO of Bolivar Energy Authority. “Today we are announcing that BEA isplanning to fulfill that demand, by building a completely fiber-optic Smart Grid Communications Network, capable of bringing affordable, reliable, fiber optic Broadband internet to all BEA’s service territory. We are excited to continue our great working relationship with Aeneas Internet and Telephone to aid in this fiber project and to get our customers connected. I would like to thank BEA’s Board of Directors, Mr. Todd Lowe, Mrs. LeAnne Shelton, Mr. Earnest Jones, Mr. Elmer Cobb, and Dr. Frank Wilhite for all their support. Also, BEA’s staff, Randy Plunk, Steve Herriman, Mark Gooch, and Mike McKinnie are due a big thank you for all their tireless work on the decision to move forward. Special thanks also go to Rep. Johnny Shaw, Rep. Ron M. Gant, and Sen. Page Walley for their support in making this project possible. It is going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of patience from the community to get this project finished, but from all of us at BEA, we are committed 100%.

“What a great day for West Tennessee and the people within the Bolivar Energy Authority area!” said Stephen Thorpe, CEO of Aeneas Internet and Telephone. “For many years now, we have worked on various fiber projects with BEA, providing internet services to commercial locations in and around Bolivar. This project will expand those fiber services to include both residential and business customers alike. We’ve seen first-hand how reliable, affordable broadband solutions can impact the community. We look forward to helping BEA deliver that same best-in-class service to their customers right here in West Tennessee and bridge the digital divide”

About Bolivar Energy Authority

Bolivar Energy Authority serves Hardeman County and parts of Fayette, Chester, Madison counties (TN) and Benton County (MS). Total electric customers: 11,221. Residential customers; 9,010. General Power customers under 50KW demand; 2,093. General Power customers between 51 and 4,999KW demand; 118. The Bolivar Energy Authority covers 1,350 miles of power line with an average of 8 customers per mile.

About Aeneas Internet and Telephone

Headquartered in Jackson, Tennessee, Aeneas Internet, and Telephone has been named to Entrepreneur magazine’s Hot 500 list of fastest growing businesses in the United States, as well as BusinessTN magazine’s Hot100 and Inc. magazine’s Inc 5,000. Founded in 1995 Aeneas offers a myriad of services including Gigabit Fiber broadband, local and long distance, VoIP, office phone systems, commercial web hosting and corporate e-mail, Network Security, off-site file storage, Data Center services, Managed Networking and more.