EDC Commends OPALCO for Broadband Progress

— from Victoria Compton, San Juan Co. Economic Development Council —

The San Juan County Economic Development Council commends OPALCO for its rapid progress on the broadband initiative, particularly its work on the completed broadband plan and development of “Neighborhood Connections” for broadband deployment in the county.

The EDC has worked for many years on the broadband initiative – assisting in the facilitation of the deployment of high-speed broadband in San Juan County. The EDC Board and staff are pleased that OPALCO has worked to clarify their strategy going forward in the broadband field, and that OPALCO has developed a well-balanced strategy which preserves the integrity of OPALCO’s electric business while positioning them to leverage their infrastructure for the community’s betterment.

“Neighborhood Connections” are neighborhoods with enough pre-registrations for OPALCO’s ultra-fast fiber network to make it financially feasible to install. By working with residents and homeowner associations in higher-density neighborhoods to share the construction costs of extending the network, OPALCO can deploy fiber-optic-based broadband more quickly.

With the neighborhood communities of San Juan County organizing to have a sufficiently large number of subscribers, construction costs can be paid by those subscribers as part of their subscription fees. The initial roll- out of the first Neighborhood Connection in the next few months will serve to demonstrate that OPALCO broadband can efficiently and effectively provide residents with high-speed fiber-based broadband, county- wide.

The EDC’s mission is to strengthen and diversify the economy of San Juan County, and the belief of the EDC’s Board and staff is that a strong economy builds a strong community. Ultra-fast fiber broadband boosts economic activity, enabling small businesses to increase sales and connectivity through faster internet connections and to take advantage of economically efficient cloud-based business support services. Additionally, fiber networks can improve medical services, education, home automation and entertainment, all of which add to an improved quality of life for islanders.

For more information on the OPALCO broadband program, or to sign up for fiber services, please visit OPALCO’s Island Network page at islandnetwork.opalco.com. For more information about the San Juan County Economic Development Council’s work in the community to strengthen and diversify the islands’ economy, please visit www.sanjuansedc.org.