OzarksGo, a Fayetteville-based fiber-optic telecommunications subsidiary of Ozarks Electric Cooperative, announced recently that it has completed the construction of a fiber-optic project that stretches throughout its territory, as well as connecting its 35,000th subscriber.
OzarksGo provides fiber-to-the-home services; whereas most internet providers run fiber-optics to a hub where it is then linked to many homes by much less efficient copper wires, FTTH means that fiber-optic connections run all the way to the individual subscriber’s home, drastically improving internet speed, capacity, and reliability. While the average internet speed for other options might be from 10-300 megabits per second, FTTH is capable of reaching speeds of 1000 Mbps, or a gigabit per second.
OzarksGo connected its first customer in 2017 and has since made the internet, television, and phone service available to almost all Ozarks Electric members across its territory.
“We could not continue to bring state-of-the-art internet to Northwest Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma without the help of our employees and those customers who continue to be our best advocates,” said Steve Bandy, general manager of OzarksGo. “Building a world-class fiber network from scratch is not an easy task, but we believe high-speed internet access is a critical service in the 21st Century, whether you live in an urban area or a rural part of the country.”
OzarksGo has already begun to expand its fiber network and expects significant improvements in the near future, with multi-gigabit services to come in 2023.
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