Lit Fiber Appoints Mike Zody as President

Mike Zody, a longtime Central PA resident and telecommunications executive, has been hired as the first market president for Lit Fiber – York, a new internet service provider (ISP) that will soon offer high-speed broadband to underserved areas of York County.

Lit Fiber – York is an affiliate of Lit Communities, the Alabama-based consultancy that has partnered with York County to design and build a new network that will eventually include more than 3,000 miles of aerial and underground fiber optic cable across the county, much of it reaching homes and businesses in areas too rural for existing providers to serve.

Zody has more than 30 years’ experience managing the growth of fiber networks throughout PA and the surrounding states. He was most recently a director for Brightspeed where he was focused on building their SLED – State, Local, Education business model. Zody has a passion for bringing critical broadband service to underserved and unserved areas.

“The opportunities to grow here are expansive and the need is even greater,” Zody says of the county’s rural neighborhoods. “Especially in southern York County where development from the Baltimore area continues to move in, attracted by quality of life and the ability to work from home spurred on by the pandemic.”

“We’ll begin with serving areas along the York Heritage Rail Trail, where underground lines are already in place using CARES Act funding, and then we’ll expand in circles with middle-mile rings that will at last create the opportunity for last-mile connections to homes and businesses who have never had this kind of high-speed internet available before,” Zody said.

“Such service is a necessity for basic economic and social activities. Lit Fiber is excited to be a part of delivering fiber internet services here and we’re pleased to have the support of our partners, led by the York County Commissioners and multiple other stakeholders in the strategic planning that got us to this point,” he said.

York County has committed up to $25 million in Federal American Rescue Plan Act Infrastructure Funds for projects such as this, that will help close the digital divide. Additionally, Lit Communities and its partners will contribute private investment capital to what is expected to eventually be a $125 million project.