BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (August 20, 2008) — The phrase “fast money” now has a whole new meaning. Smithville Digital, an affiliate of Smithville Telephone, Indiana’s largest privately held telecommunications company, today announced the expansion of its rural high speed fiber-optic network into Hamilton, Monroe, Lawrence, and Hendricks counties. Indiana-based Monroe bank will act as anchor tenant for this new all-fiber build-out that will bring high speed connectivity to nine of its locations in four counties.

Fiber connectivity for the banking industry is quickly becoming a necessity. The large quantities of data that is transmitted in and out of banks daily makes it difficult to do business without the kind of gigabit fiber-optic connectivity that Smithville Digital’s new network will provide. "Monroe Bank will enjoy substantial speed increases in available bandwidth between our many banking center locations” said Bob White, Vice President and IT Manager of Monroe Bank. “Our communication lines no longer inhibit our ability to utilize our technology to its fullest potential.” This fiber build-out in and around the Bloomington area, and the outlying areas of Noblesville in Hamilton County, Bedford in Lawrence County, and Avon in Hendricks County, is part of a $2 million investment by Smithville to bring fiber-optic connectivity to rural areas. While Monroe Bank is the first customer to utilize Smithville Digital’s new fiber-optic network, many new businesses will soon have the opportunity to utilize the high-speed connectivity in those areas. “As the anchor tenant for Smithville’s new network, this allows Monroe Bank to maximize service to our customers and better position the Bank for growth,” White said. “We enjoy working with Smithville Digital, another locally owned Monroe County company, and we look forward to a continued partnership."

Smithville Digital currently provides fiber-optic broadband services throughout the state to Indiana companies, cities and technology parks like Cook Inc., Bloomington Hospital, Monroe County Schools, Baxter Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Research Park, WestGate @ Crane Technology Park, EG&G Inc., City of Bloomington and many other organizations.

By the end of the year, Smithville Digital plans to have invested more than $5 million in rural fiber-optic infrastructure to help these areas of Indiana compete in the global economy. Smithville’s investment in all new fiber-optic infrastructure in Hamilton, Hendricks, Lawrence, and Monroe counties is a crucial step in facilitating economic growth in rural Indiana.

About Smithville Digital
Smithville Digital was formed in 2003 to offer the highest technological services for businesses and networking throughout the state of Indiana. Smithville Digital provides a fiber-optic means of digital data transmission to its customers. Fiber-optic technology allows for “last mile” connectivity as well as network management solutions to help customers meet their data transmission needs. For more information about Smithville Digital visit Smithville Digital. Smithville Digital was formed as a spin-off of Smithville Telephone Company. Founded in 1922, Smithville Telephone has grown to be Indiana’s largest independent telecom company. Smithville Telephone Company has expanded its services to include Smithville Digital as well as DSL services. The headquarters are located in Ellettsville, Ind. For more information please visit Smithville.