[March 16, 2012]

LREC may offer broadband service

TAHLEQUAH, Mar 16, 2012 (Tahlequah Daily Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Lake Region Electric Cooperative is exploring the feasibility of bringing broadband Internet and phone service to its customers.

Chief Executive Officer Hamid Vahdatipour said the case study shows the changing roles of cooperative services like LREC.

Billed as "Fiber-to-the-Home," the technology would allow LREC to implement an advanced broadband-network infrastructure, with high-speed Internet and phone services over the fiber-access networks. It would be capable of delivering 10-megabyte speed and unlimited data to any subscriber -- faster than the broadband speeds available to most subscribers in the area, Vahdatipour said.

"Satellite Internet and wireless broadband services are not meeting the needs of the members today," said Vahdatipour. "LREC would like to take its cooperative spirit and leverage its current networks and operational infrastructures to become an advanced broadband service provider to its members." Stanley Young, director of marketing for LREC, said feedback so far has been positive. LREC's board of trustees has authorized the cooperative to prepare for a small-scale pilot project in the Woodall and Park Hill areas of Cherokee County.

"Our next step is to provide the board with detailed data regarding the number of members who will commit to purchase broadband -- 10 megabyte speed -- and unlimited data Internet and/or phone service from LREC," said Young. "In rural Oklahoma, we must find every opportunity to keep our community thriving and competitive with urban areas. With this fiber access network, every member of our cooperative will benefit, from recent graduates who can now work from home, to businesses that can take advantage of tailored, high-bandwidth packages, and schools that can collaborate with other institutions." LREC officials say they need help from members of the cooperative to move forward and confirm there is sufficient interest in the pilot program. Vahdatipour said LREC has to know it's worth the investment to build the fiber-optic lines.

"This project has to be self-sufficient and not place a heavy burden on the electric rates," he said. "LREC must have enough commitments from the members in the pilot project area to start this program." Vahdatipour said LREC officials have started to reach out to members by going door to door, making phone calls and telling members to sign up as early participants for the Fiber-to-the-Home project.

Commitment letters are available from LREC, and indicate high-speed, broadband Internet service would cost $49.95 per month with a $50 deposit. Home phone service with unlimited long-distance and local calls would cost $39.95 per month with a $50 deposit. Under a package deal, customers could purchase both Internet and phone service for $84.95 per month with a $50 deposit, the letter shows.

"Rural electric cooperatives brought electric service to the rural communities in the 1930s, when no investor-owned utilities or municipal systems would do that," said Vahdatipour. "Now people living in the rural areas can enjoy all the amenities the electric service in an urban-living environment can provide. Broadband service is now the next step in improving the quality of life in the rural areas. Expansion of broadband service to rural areas is as important of a mission as it was to bring electricity to the rural areas in the '30s, and the cooperatives have a proven track record that they can tackle the task at hand." Young said if enough positive feedback is shown in the project and board members approve, work could begin on the pilot as soon as May or June.

Construction on that phase of fiber-optic lines could take four to six months.

___ (c)2012 the Tahlequah Daily Press (Tahlequah, Okla.) Visit the Tahlequah Daily Press (Tahlequah, Okla.) at www.tahlequahdailypress.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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