LAMAR, SC (WBTW) – Charter Communications is launching a new state-of-the-art Spectrum broadband network in Lamar.

The $1 million project is expected to bring high-speed internet and cable services to every business and house in Lamar in Spring 2019. On Tuesday, dozens of people packed inside the Lamar Library to learn more about the services that will be offered. The effort is spearheaded by a number of state and local representative including Darlington Council County Chairman Bobby Hudson, Lamar Mayor Darnell Byrd-McPherson, and Senator Gerald Malloy. According to Senator Malloy, the project has been in the works for 10 years now. He says the goal is to make Lamar a sustainable place.

“It promotes everything. Can you imagine living your life without it? Because we’ve grown up now with it. Our children have grown up with it,” Senator Malloy said. “So when you have a community that does not have it, it dampens everything. So it will help the economic development picture. It’ll help business which means it will help the sustainability of the town.”

Senator Malloy says he thinks the network will make Lamar a more desirable place to live, work and visit, and will help the town keep up with other counties in the state. 

“I think this is a great projects for us. We got a good stretch of interstate here. We got a development industrial park here. We got interests that we’re working on with the businesses here. We got a new school that is coming here so the children will have something to look forward to,” he said. “We have to take great effort to make sure that we maintain and sustain it. It is very difficult when we have an influx in population in our state that goes to the beach areas and to the urban areas. What we have is people that are here that love this way of life and what we want to do is make sure that we can end up bringing this community together, so it took great leadership.”

During next year’s launch, Spectrum will also introduce Spectrum Internet Assist which is an inexpensive high-speed broadband service for qualifying families and seniors.

According to a press release, the service offers “30/4 Mbps broadband speeds for $14.99 per month” and “Users can expect standard features like email boxes, internet security software and a modem at no additional charge.”