CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) says it has won multiple contracts to build fiber networks for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The fiber links will be used to upgrade infrastructure at five dams in Oregon and Washington. CenturyLink also will supply Ethernet-based services over the fiber infrastructure.
The fiber cable will replace copper-based infrastructure at the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, and Lower Granite Dams along the lower Snake River in Washington as well as the Foster and Green Peters Dams along the Columbia River in Oregon. The dams are centerpieces of multi-use critical infrastructure facilities that provide flood risk management, hydropower, navigation, environmental stewardship, fish and wildlife conservation, and recreation benefits. The use of fiber will eliminate the need for specialized high voltage safety protection equipment as well as existing copper cable that CenturyLink describes as “old, buried, and in many areas, chewed up by gophers.”
“By replacing the legacy copper cables and modernizing the network with fiber, CenturyLink is helping the Army Corps of Engineers improve its safety posture and better protect critical infrastructure at five dams in Oregon and Washington,” said David Young, CenturyLink senior vice president, public sector.
CenturyLink won the contracts via the General Services Administration’s IT Schedule 70 contract. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates and maintains approximately 700 dams nationwide and in Puerto Rico.
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