
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
The Oklahoma Broadband Office (OBO) says local providers have broken ground on several new grant-fueled fiber projects designed to provide high-speed Internet access to long unserved or underserved communities across wide swaths of the Sooner state.
According to two different announcements by the state’s broadband office, the OBO recently greenlit $65.9 million in new fiber expansion initiatives in the Southern part of the state, as well as another $24.6 million in deployments for the northern-central part of the state.
The fiber upgrade projects were made possible via $158 million in Capital Projects Fund grants made possible by the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The grants are expected to help fund more than 50 projects in 28 counties.
In the Southern part of the state, $43.2 million in federal grants – plus $22.8 million in matching funds – will connect over 2,000 unserved homes and businesses in partnership with Medicine Park Telephone, Oklahoma Fiber Network, Oklahoma Western Telephone, Phoenix Long Distance, Southern Plains Cable, Southwest Oklahoma Telephone, and Texhoma Fiber.
In the Northeastern part of Oklahoma, the OBO says it has partnered with several providers on fiber expansion, including a $1.4 million grant doled out to BOLT Fiber, a subsidiary of Northeast Rural Services, which is a division of Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative (NOEC).
OBO awarded $16.4 million in grants for those projects, coupled with $8.2 million in matching contributions from Centranet – a private ISP that has increasingly been partnering with electric cooperatives looking to expand into fiber broadband deployment.
In deployed markets BOLT Fiber generally offers three tiers of fiber broadband service: a symmetrical 100 megabit per second (Mbps) “silver” offering for $50 a month; a symmetrical 500 Mbps “gold” offering for $64 a month; and a symmetrical 1 gigabit per second (1 Gbps) “platinum” offering for $84 a month.
The cooperative’s pricing is notably lower than what’s seen in many U.S. coastal urban markets, where a lack of competition among regional monopolies has increased costs while driving down service reach, speed, and overall quality.
A breakdown of OBO’s grant awards, initially proposed last September, can be found here, showcasing a cost-per-passing as high as almost $10,000 for some projects due to the remote rural nature of several of the target areas.
“The potential now exists for thousands more living here in northeast Oklahoma to access high-speed broadband [I]nternet,”, BOLT Fiber CEO and NOEC General Manager Daniel Webster said of the latest project.
“Many who have been waiting patiently for fiber-based services won’t be waiting much longer. This project will ensure the continued growth of our communities by helping solidify future employment and educational opportunities,” he added.
Oklahoma ISPs, municipalities, cooperatives, and utilities are also currently battling for more than $797 million in federal broadband BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) grants made possible by the 2021 federal infrastructure bill. Those funds are expected to hit state coffers sometime this year.
Inline images courtesy of Bolt Fiber Facebook page