June 24, 2004 Chicago, IL -- Daktel Communications, the CLEC subsidiary of regional cooperative Dakota Central Telecommunications, will overbuild the city of Jamestown, ND (pop. 15,500) with a competitive all-fiber network featuring state-of-the-art voice, IPTV, and high-speed data services. Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) systems provider Optical Solutions Inc. (Minneapolis, MN) received the contract.
Dakota Central is not a newcomer to FTTP. Over the past two years, the company has leveraged Optical Solutions' FiberPath system to attract the majority of Jamestown's commercial customer base. Dakota Central is parlaying the success of its business franchise into construction of a residential FTTH network that will serve as many as 6,500 Jamestown residents. Already, the company has achieved nearly 40% registration in the first phase of its build-out, which began this spring.
"We used fiber to the business as our testing ground and proved there is a strong demand in this community for advanced communications services bundled together at a reasonable price," reports Keith Larson, general manager at Dakota Central. "Integrating our existing business network with our new residential network has been seamless with [Optical Solutions'] FiberPath."
Dakota Central will deploy FiberPath 500--a complete ITU FSAN-compliant equipment and networking solution featuring Ethernet Gigabit technology. FiberPath 500's Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) offers what the company claims is unsurpassed bandwidth capacity--no other system today can match its depth and range of voice, video, and data applications delivered directly to the customer premises, say company representatives.
"Underserved communities in rural areas are getting a shot in the arm with the help of bandwidth-rich FTTP services and progressive, customer-focused carriers like Dakota Central," adds Keith Carlson, director of sales at Optical Solutions. "What they are doing for Jamestown is nothing short of creating a legacy--the impact of FTTP on this community's economic vitality and quality of life will endure for generations to come."
To fund its FTTH deployment, Dakota Central successfully applied for and received $15.5 million in low-interest financing from the USDA's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) as part of its broadband loan program.