New plant will bring 2,000 new jobs to our community
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Moncks Corner, S.C. – May 11, 2015 – Home Telecom is proud to announce that Volvo has selected a location within it's telecommunication service area to invest $500 million to build a new plant in Berkeley County, S.C . The automaker said the facility will have the capacity to initially produce up to 100,000 cars per year and will create 2,000 jobs over the first decade.
The plant will be built on the old Camp Hall timber plantation off Interstate 26 near Ridgeville and construction will begin early autumn 2015, with the first vehicles expected to roll off the assembly line in 2018.
"World class, advanced manufacturing requires access to an advanced , world class telecommunications network ," said William Helmly, president and COO of Home Telecom. "Home Telecom’s 100% fiber optic infrastructure passes near the chosen Berkeley County location. This is the same fiber infrastructure that allowed us to announce the first gigabit community in South Carolin a in late 2013."
Volvo said it picked South Carolina because of its easy access to international ports and infrastructure, a well-trained labor force, attractive investment environment and experience in the high tech manufacturing sector.
Berkeley County Supervisor Bill Peagler said the deal came together in less than 100 days, "proof that Berkeley means business."
Fiber infrastructure that fosters 100 times the power of other networks positions the area on the cutting edge of technology. Headquartered in Moncks Corner, the county seat of Berkeley County, Home Telecom has been providing telecommunication services in Berkeley, Dorchester and Charleston counties for over 100 years. Today, Home Telecom has over 60,000 fiber miles in South Carolina; 52,000 of which are located in Berkeley County.
In 2012, Calix, a leading global provider of broadband communications access systems and software, awarded Home Telecom their Innovation Award for using fiber to drive local economic development. "Being a leader in innovation is a strong corporate value of Home Telecom ," Helmly continued . "Innovation coupled with our 'easy to do business with' vision makes our company a strong contributor to driving local economic development. We look forward to the opportunity to meet Volvo’s telecommunications needs."