Correction: An earlier version of this story said 45 percent of homes in Phase 1 took LPC up on its offer. That has been corrected. The area is the initial launch area.

NextLight is speeding up.

The city announced at the Tuesday night City Council meeting that Longmont Power and Communications will build the infrastructure for the NextLight fiber-optic Internet service branching out east and west from central Longmont, moving up start dates on construction significantly in the entire city.

Under the new plan, LPC will begin construction on the areas around the airport and west of the old Twin Peaks Mall location at the same time as construction on the central downtown section — in April.

Phase 3, in east Longmont, will start in June of this year instead of the third quarter of 2015 as was previously planned.

Phase 5, centered around North Hover Street in the northwest corner of the city, is now set to begin in November, moving its start date up about nine months.

Phase 4, north of 17th avenue, retained the same construction start date in the first quarter of 2016 but is now last in line instead of fourth.

Tom Roiniotis, LPC general manager, said they decided to move Phase 6 in the southwest corner of the city from the back of line to next month due to the amount of development going on around the Nelson Road and Clover Basin Drive area.

“New subdivisions and new businesses are inquiring about locations over there,” Roiniotis said in an interview. “Our engineers will want to design the broadband system at the same time they’re doing the electric and so instead of having them jump around, why don’t we focus so with the engineering and construction on that area right now so we can capture the efficiencies.”

Ramping up the speed of construction, which involves building the infrastructure of fiber-optic cable that facilitates high-speed Internet, is possible because LPC’s contractor TCS Communications were able to hire additional install crews after a project in New Mexico was completed.

Plus, Roiniotis said, crews had a hard time digging into the ground to bury equipment in the winter months, so LPC wants to take advantage of the warmer weather while it can.

In Phase 1, which began construction in August, the first customers of the municipal utility were able to get high-speed Internet in November. Scott Rochat, an LPC spokesman, said that in the initial launch area, roughly 45 percent of all homes that had been marketed to took LPC up on its offer for the NextLight service. In it’s business plan, LPC aimed for a 37 percent take rate after five years.

“The demand was significantly higher than we anticipated,” Roiniotis said.

NextLight is a broadband Internet service provided by LPC, a division of the city. An enterprise fund, LPC draws on revenue from broadband and electricity ratepayers to provide services. The NextLight buildout is funded by a $45.4 million in bonds passed by voters in 2013. Of that, the city used a $40.3 bond issue for the service buildout.

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci