Smithville Chairman & CEO named as national “Broadband Hero”
Darby McCarty recognized as a nationally respected voice in advancing broadband.
ELLETTSVILLE, Indiana – Joining other national broadband figures such as Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai, Smithville Chairman and CEO Darby A. McCarty was named as an inaugural 2019 Broadband Hero by USTelecom for her continued work in “making distinguished and game-changing contributions to connect communities,” according to Jonathan Spalter, USTelecom President and CEO.
During the award presentation, Jack Keen, CEO of the Western New Mexico Telephone Company, noted that Ms. McCarty “has grown Smithville into Indiana’s largest independent telecommunications company and has been named a Top 100 National Broadband Company for an unprecedented 11 years in a row.”
He added that “While Smithville is locally owned, Darby is nationally recognized – she is a respected voice at USTelecom, and her insights are central to shaping the association’s vision for our connected future.” He went on to note that Ms. McCarty is “first and often most forceful in promoting smart [broadband] policies and investing in deploying fiber.”
Ms. McCarty was recognized together with FCC Chairman Pai; U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; and U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
“Darby’s relentless commitment to excellence has earned well-deserved national recognition from industry professionals, which also reflects her continued strong leadership in the broadband industry here in Indiana,” said Paul Quick, Smithville President. “With a history of making private investments upwards of a quarter of a billion dollars in the Hoosier state, Darby and Smithville hold a long and positive history of championing and advancing broadband throughout Indiana, and we look forward to elevating transformational digital connectivity even further.”
The October 24 awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. was part of the USTelecom 2019 Broadband Investment Forum, which brought together leading national policy makers, business leaders and analysts to assess the opportunities and challenges of connecting communities through continued investment in broadband infrastructure and innovation.
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About USTelecom
USTelecom is the national trade association representing technology providers, innovators, suppliers, and manufacturers committed to connecting the world through the power of broadband. For more information, visit www.ustelecom.org.
About Smithville
Nationally recognized for more than a decade as a Top 100 Broadband Company, privately owned Smithville is Indiana’s largest independent telecom company with more than 200 employees. As a fifth-generation, family-owned business, Smithville has been committed to delivering fast and reliable connectivity and legendary service to its customers for nearly a century. The company is well-known as an industry leader and community supporter for rural Indiana.
Since the early 1990s, Smithville has constructed more than 2,800 miles of high-speed, high-capacity fiber across more than 22 Indiana counties, representing private investments totaling upward of a quarter of a billion dollars, including recent completion of a $4.5 million, 100-gigabit fiber ring.
In addition to its residential services, Smithville provides commercial fiber-based connectivity for businesses, university campuses, biotechnology companies, healthcare providers, government offices, residential centers, communities, and other entities, including the WestGate@Crane Technology Park and the Purdue Research Park. The company currently serves about 23,000 businesses and residences in southern and central Indiana. For more information, please visit www.smithville.com.
