Great Plains Communications (GPC), a Midwestern digital infrastructure provider, will soon begin construction to approximately 20,000 customer locations after accepting funds offered under expansion of a Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) program. The company’s privately owned 18,000+ mile fiber network currently reaches 13 states.
The funds will be distributed from 2024 through 2038 under the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (E-ACAM) program and will be utilized to deploy fiber to unserved and underserved customers in rural areas of Nebraska and Southeast Indiana. Construction completion is projected by the end of 2028.
CEO Todd Foje said in a press release that they are “proud to partner with funding programs such as E-ACAM made available by the FCC, to further increase our capacity and fiber footprint while allowing homes, businesses and communities in rural areas to reap the benefits of fiber services including working and learning from home, e-commerce, advanced telehealth and economic development opportunities.”
The FCC recently updated the Alternative Connect America Cost Model (ACAM) program established in 2016 to fund broadband buildouts to unserved and underserved areas, raising the required deployment broadband speed to 100/20 Mbps or faster to qualifying locations.
To meet its obligation, Great Plains Communications will install nearly 7,500 miles of new fiber. Once projects are complete, residential customers “will have access to symmetrical fiber internet speeds up to 2 Gig, GPC Whole Home Wi-Fi, GPC iTV Streaming Video and voice services.” They added that business customers will have enterprise fiber services including “symmetrical internet up to 10 Gig, managed Ethernet, GPC Cloud Connect, wireless LTE backup and more.”