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channel allows people to become a part of their TV by creating
their own content. The possibilities are limitless.” SureWest
will soon announce a new local sports program on i2TV – the
only program in the Sacramento region to provide highlights
of high school sports.
In a triple play for Occam Networks, Ballard Telephone,
Peoples Rural Telephone and Nex-Tech have all recently purchased
and deployed its GPON solutions.
Ballard Telephone, a Kentucky cooperative, deployed Occam’s
Broadband Loop Carrier, GPON Optical Line Terminal
and GPON Triple Play Gateway Optical Network Terminals.
Ballard is replacing existing plant with fiber, starting with its
headquarters town of LaCenter, in order to offer traditional
and entertainment services including IP video on demand.
“We contacted neighboring telcos and they were all using Occam
with great success,” says Harlan Parker, general manager
at Ballard. “The flexibility and ease of turn-up of Occam’s
products greatly facilitated our deployment.”
Peoples Rural Telephone, another Kentucky cooperative,
now offers advanced voice services, high-speed data and video
via RF overlay using Occam’s BLC, GPON OLT hardware
and ONTs. As a result of this deployment, more than 50 percent
of subscribers in Peoples’ territory are now served with
Occam equipment.
Nex-Tech, the CLEC subsidiary of Rural Telephone in Lenora,
Kansas, was an early FTTH deployer; Nex-Tech and Rural
Telephone together have invested more than $80 million in
fiber upgrades for the communities they serve. Nex-Tech had
previously deployed Occam’s Gigabit Ethernet FTTP equipment,
and it selected Occam’s GPON products based in part
on their capability for integration with the existing point-topoint
network. Nex-Tech offers high-speed data, T1, IPTV
and advanced voice services.
Enhanced Telecommunications Corporation (ETC),
an Indiana ILEC that offers triple play services over FTTH
with Internet speeds up to 40 Mbps/20 Mbps, is planning a
new FTTH project. According to local press reports, ETC will
upgrade its old plant in the town of Batesville with fiber this
spring. The company is quoted as saying that the upgrade is
needed because “the demand for bandwidth, particularly for
the Internet and high-definition television, has exhausted its
capabilities earlier than expected.”
Wiggins Telephone Association (WTA), an ILEC serving
a rural area of Colorado, has begun replacing its 30-yearold
copper network, using GPON equipment from Calix to
deliver data over fiber to the home and wireless 802.11n routers
from D-Link to distribute signals within the home. WTA’s
fiber project is a response to a demand for broadband services
that was overburdening the existing network. Many customers
were still using dial-up connections, and the company was
unable to deploy DSL everywhere (its service territory covers
2,000 square miles, with only 1,600 phone lines – less than
one customer per square mile). “Fiber to the home was the only
logical choice,” says Casey Quint, WTA plant supervisor.
Terry Hendrickson, CEO and general manager of WTA,
says, “It’s a rural area, but we need high-speed Internet services
just like people do in the cities. Perhaps more so. We can’t just
go around the corner to a coffee shop and get WiFi. People
in the city take that for granted.” Hendrickson is hoping the
project will serve as a stimulus to the local economy. “Internet
connectivity is essential these days,” he says. “We have a lot of
work-from-home moms and home businesses in the area, and
they need the bandwidth.” The project began in the original
Wiggins exchange; the next phase will be in nearby Hoyt.
Broadweave Networks, the Utah-based CLEC that bought
the municipal fiber-to-the-home network in Provo in 2008, announced
that it had reached agreement to acquire the Provo
customer base of Nuvont Communications, one of the providers
offering services on the (formerly) open-access network. The
acquisition will give Nuvont customers a single network provider
for all services and enhance their video and data options.
The acquisition also increases the Broadweave customer base
by more than 10 percent and completes the integration of all
wholesale and retail services for residential customers in Provo.
When Broadweave acquired iProvo, it said it intended to
take over both network operation and service delivery in order
to provide better, more consistent customer service. However,
negotiations with the retail providers proved to be complex,
and it has taken nearly a year to complete the acquisition of all
the providers’ customers.
Nuvont customers will be able to retain their existing phone
numbers, e-mail addresses and other identifications. Broadweave
says the only immediate change will be the company
name on the monthly bill – and access to more TV channels
and Internet speeds. BBP
April 2009 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 11