Damage to fiber lines being installed across the county have recently come from dove hunters shooting at birds perched on lines, according to officials with both Kenergy and Conexon, the company that is installing the fiber lines.
Aside from verfiying that damages, officials offered little insight to the damages.
“We do not disclose specific locations of fiber damage but can share that incidents like this are addressed quickly to minimize service disruption,” said Alexis Tank Madison, the marketing and communications manager for Conexon, in an email to the Hendersonian.
She also wrote that the company doesn’t release damage costs.
“We do not disclose costs associated with damages,” Madison said.
Last year, the Hendersonian reported that Conexon was aiming to finish installing all the fiber lines for the county by the end of the year. The Henderson County Fiscal Court approved a plan in July to use $4 million of American Recovery Plan Act funds to incentivize Kenergy—and Conexon—to get all of the county ready for high-speed internet by the end of the year.
In the plan, Kenergy would get the same percentage from the $4 million in ARPA funds as the percentage of the total residences in the Kenergy service area of Henderson County that have infrastructure in place to connect to high-speed internet by the end of the year.
Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider said near the end of December that the company had finished about 75% of the work and would receive almost $2.5 million.
Madison did not say how far the project has come since then but did say that the work is scheduled to be completed in summer 2026.
“While damage to fiber lines is always unfortunate, it is often expected in large-scale projects like this and factored into construction plans,” Madison wrote. “We do not expect significant setbacks to construction schedules.”
Schneider said he hadn’t been informed that dove hunters had been hitting fiber lines with their shot.
“Wait till they fly,” he said, tongue and cheek. “It proves you can shoot.”
