THOMASVILLE — The City of Thomasville began providing telecommunications and broadband services, including Internet, telephone and digital television, in 1996. Two decades later, the City of Thomasville, in conjunction with the cities of Cairo, Camilla and Moultrie, will begin consolidation of Community Network Services, or CNS.

CNS is the brand under which all the communities operate and offer telecommunications and broadband services. The consolidation is aimed at providing optimum services for the communities while structuring the organization to capitalize on business and management efficiencies.

“CNS has grown into a very important piece of each of our communities’ infrastructure and is vital to the economic development of South Georgia,” Thomasville City Manager Steve Sykes said. “With more than 16,000 subscribers across eight communities, both our residential and business customers rely on the services that CNS provides, and we are very appreciative of the confidence that is placed in our ability to operate and manage this service.”

The City of Thomasville was the first to begin offering telecommunications and broadband services in the late 1990s. At that time, many of the larger telecommunication providers were overlooking rural areas and did not have plans to offer high-speed or broadband Internet service in rural communities. Once Thomasville took the first leap into building a fiber optic network, the cities of Cairo, Camilla and Moultrie recognized that taking the lead for their own communities was also the best way to be sure their cities were not left behind in the Information Age. With this, the partnership known as the South Georgia Governmental Services Authority was born.

“Our story is very unique,” Sykes said. “In early 2000, four rural Southwest Georgia cities began a cooperative effort to build the fiber optics infrastructure and construct the human partnerships to improve the quality of life and deliver new ways to work and learn for our citizens. We connected businesses, schools, residences, hospitals and other institutions within our communities via this telecommunications network. Today, we have expanded the network across seven counties and approximately 100 miles with over 400 miles of fiber optic cable and 850 miles of coaxial plant to build a regional authority: the South Georgia Governmental Services Authority.”

The South Georgia Governmental Services Authority (SGGSA) is governed by an eight-member board made up of the city manager from each community and one council member/mayor from each community.

The SGGSA was created for the purpose of providing governmental, proprietary, and administrative services and facilities on a regional basis, and the regional partnership is designed to provide economies of scale, the sharing of assets and the development of expertise for enhanced, efficient and economical delivery of services.

“Now, 20 years after its formation, the SGGSA partnership is poised to enter into a new phase of operation, one that is structured to provide stability and management in an industry that has changed greatly since CNS began,” said Frank Cannon, SGGSA executive director. “The cities that form the SGGSA are taking steps to consolidate each community’s respective assets into one entity, owned and operated by the SGGSA. Although ownership of the assets will be consolidated under the SGGSA, the services will continue to be provided under the CNS brand, and the transfer of assets will be seamless for customers.

“Essentially, the management of CNS will remain the same and the transition will be seamless to our customers,” Cannon said. “The cities have always taken great care to manage their resources efficiently while also providing exceptional customer service to the customers in all communities. With the consolidation, the SGGSA will still be committed to the same essential foundations of the CNS operation.”

What will be different will be the way assets, expenses and revenues are distributed within the partnership.

“The assets that are owned by individual communities, such as the City of Thomasville, will be sold to the SGGSA. In return, the city will receive compensation for those assets and have a share in how future expenses and profits are distributed based on our initial investment,” Sykes explained.

The purpose of the consolidation is to bring stability to a rapidly changing industry for the good of each community and its customers, according to Thomasville officials.

“Programming fees for cable television are just one of the areas that have changed tremendously over the last several years,” Sykes said.

“The equipment that is necessary to operate an expansive network such as ours is also quite costly. How we share in meeting those expenses will change, which in turn will make each city’s operations stronger and more efficient. We entered this partnership together many years ago because we recognized we were stronger together. That hasn’t changed, and this consolidation will continue to provide the cooperation and synergies that also make us more efficient at meeting the needs of our communities.”

The Thomasville City Council formally approved the consolidation at a Monday meeting.

The final transfer of assets is expected to be completed by Dec. 31.