BROWNSVILLE, Texas – A second major Internet provider has come to Brownsville and the company is moving as fast as it can to give city residents another alternative.

Alabama-based Lit Communities has officially opened a Lit Fiber demo center on East Levee Street by holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended largely by company employees, city staff and chamber of commerce members.

Locally the company is called LIT Fiber and has created about a dozen jobs, so far. At launch, services will have an initial 100-mile coverage, which will be expanded to another 400 miles in the near future.

“We are excited to be working in Brownsville,” said A.J. Whitehurst, vice president of strategic initiatives for Lit Communities. “There has been a lot of work behind the scenes and we are now poised to propel this city into (one of) of the nation’s fastest and interconnected cities.”

Lit Communities has a center in Ohio and its second one now in Brownsville.

Andrew Massey, CEO of Lit Communities, said they chose the Rio Grande Valley’s largest city following a feasibility study conducted before the pandemic hit the country in 2020.

He said the area in Ohio shares some similarities with Brownsville such as population size and the number of Internet users.

According to a 2013 study conducted by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, nearly 45 percent of the city’s population had no Internet service, placing Brownsville as one of the nation’s lowest in such a category, City Manager Helen Ramirez said.

“The partnership between the City of Brownsville and Lit Fiber is not just about providing internet service; it’s about revolutionizing the way our students learn, our businesses operate, and our community connects on a global scale,” Ramirez said.

“This collaboration will enhance e-commerce capabilities, elevate educational and healthcare opportunities, and ensure our City continues to thrive in the digital age. We are excited to embark on this journey together, elevating Brownsville to new heights of global connection and success.”

Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, Jr., said Lit Fiber has been working with the city about four years and will have its first customer soon, paying anywhere from $30 to $35 a month for Internet service.

“I am thrilled about how the future looks for Brownsville,” Cowen said. “This project is about leveling the playing field.”

Most Brownsville residents get Internet and other services, called bundles, through Spectrum but Lit Fiber could follow that pathway somewhere along the line.

Both the company and the city celebrated the occasion with a three-day event that included demonstrations, questions and answer sessions and panel discussions.

On Wednesday, March, 25, for example, a group of five exchanged ideas on topics such public and private enterprise partnerships, digital connectivity and working with tomorrow governments.