Portland, OR-based telco LS Networks has announced plans to deploy a gigabit-capable fiber-optic network in 25 rural communities in Oregon and Washington over the next two years. The program will offer Internet plans at 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps speeds. The $1.2 million "Connected Communities" project launched in Maupin, Oregon, in July; the first services are scheduled to begin in January 2017.
"Telecommunications is a critical utility service that can either leverage or disenfranchise rural communities," said Bryan Adams, director of sales and marketing at LS Networks. "We're committed to providing the infrastructure, operation and maintenance of high-speed voice and data services in support of the economic and educational advances that make communities strong."
Services start at $40 a month for 100 Mbps and $70 for 1 Gbps. LS Networks has built more than 7,500 route miles of fiber in Oregon, which it operates as a purpose-built IP services network. The Connected Communities initiative is intended to add "last-mile" expansion to the existing network to support the company's mission to build in locations where others cannot or will not.
"We will continue to invest resources into regions that need it most," said Adams. "Our priority has always been to provide service before profit and to use telecommunications as a tool to bridge the communities that make the Pacific Northwest great - on both sides of the Cascades."
