MLGC, which has provided communications services to residents of North Dakota for more than a century, has launched a residential service of 5-Gbps downstream over its fiber to the home (FTTH) network. The service provider says the 5-Gbps offering, will improve video streaming and lower latency as well as enable smart home features.
MLGC offers high-speed broadband, television, and phone services to more than 2,500 homes in east-central North Dakota. The new 5-Gbps service is now being offered to subscribers in the towns of Kindred, Davenport, Amber Plains/Round Hill, Enderlin, Finley, and Cooperstown.
“We’re a fourth generation, family-owned company,” said MLGC President and General Manager Tyler Kild. “We’ve come from the telephone that was cranked, hanging on the wall, to the switchboard where you actually had people flipping switches, to laying fiber, and now 5-gig. We believe that it is our responsibility, especially in rural North Dakota, to bring that technology to our consumers.”
MLGC began its FTTH installations in the 1980s; in January 2011, it received an award via the Broadband Stimulus program that saw it install Calix E7 Ethernet Service Access Platforms (see “Calix E7 selected for two Broadband Stimulus projects in North Dakota”). In addition to the towns that will first receive the 5-Gbps offering, the company also serves customers in Binford, Glenfield, Jessie, McHenry, Sharon, and Sheldon. Its footprint runs west of Fargo. In addition to the new 5-Gbps service, the company also offers 2.5-Gbps downstream and symmetrical 1-Gbps as well as lower transmission rates.
For related articles, visit the FTTx Topic Center.
For more information on FTTx technology and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.
To stay abreast of fiber network deployments, subscribe to Lightwave’s Service Providers and Datacom/Data Center newsletters.