Blair, Nebraska, Oct. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Great Plains Communications (GPC), the Midwestern digital infrastructure provider with an expanding, privately owned 18,000+ mile fiber network reaching 13 states, will soon begin construction to approximately 20,000 customer locations after accepting funds offered under expansion of a Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) program. The funds will be distributed from 2024 through 2038 under the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (E-ACAM) program and will be utilized to deploy fiber to unserved and underserved customers in rural areas of Nebraska and Southeast Indiana. Construction completion is projected by the end of 2028.
Todd Foje, CEO of Great Plains Communications, had this to say. “We are proud to partner with funding programs such as E-ACAM made available by the FCC to further increase our capacity and fiber footprint while allowing homes, businesses and communities in rural areas to reap the benefits of fiber services including working and learning from home, e-commerce, advanced telehealth and economic development opportunities.”
The FCC recently updated the Alternative Connect America Cost Model (ACAM) program established in 2016 to fund broadband buildouts to unserved and underserved areas, raising the required deployment broadband speed to 100/20 Mbps or faster to qualifying locations.
To meet its obligation, Great Plains Communications will install nearly 7,500 miles of new fiber. Once projects are complete, residential customers will have access to symmetrical fiber internet speeds up to 2 Gig, GPC Whole Home Wi-Fi, GPC iTV Streaming Video and voice services. Business customers will have a full suite of enterprise fiber services including symmetrical internet up to 10 Gig, managed Ethernet, GPC Cloud Connect, wireless LTE backup and more.
About Great Plains Communications
Great Plains Communications is one of the largest privately owned digital infrastructure providers in the Midwest and is headquartered in Blair, Nebraska. It has over a century of experience providing business and residential customers in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska and Southeastern Indiana communities with forward-thinking, fiber-based technology services including high-speed Internet, Ethernet, video, SD Wan, GPC Cloud Connect, hosted and traditional voice solutions. The company also takes pride in its progressive approach to accommodating the unique needs of all regional and national telecommunications carriers, LECs, ISPs, wireless carriers and other service providers utilizing superior engineering and custom-build strategies. At the core of its service offering is an extensive, MEF-certified 16,500+ mile regional fiber network that reaches 13 states: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The network offers community access rings, last-mile and middle-mile solutions, all fully supported by the company’s 24x7x365 Network Operations Center. For more information, visit www.gpcom.com.
