Two Colorado Broadband Stimulus winners select Calix access platforms for regional projects

Broadband Stimulus award winners Nunn Telephone Company (Nunn) and Wiggins Telephone Association (WTA) have selected Calix Inc.'s Ethernet Extensible Architecture (EXA) Powered Calix Unified Access platforms and the 700GE family of optical network terminals (ONTs) to bring advanced broadband services to “unserved” and “underserved” communities throughout northern Colorado.

The awards, part of the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), total more than $9.5 million in overall funds and consist of $6 million in grants and $3.5 million in loans. Costs covered include plant engineering, materials, labor, and other costs, such as access equipment.

“By bringing fiber-to-the-premises to our communities, we are enabling the network capacity to not only meet the service requirements of our subscribers today, but also be prepared for more advanced services in the years to come,” explains Greg Grablander, general manager at Nunn. “We see this initiative as laying the foundation for future economic development and improved quality of life in our communities, and positioning our north central Colorado serving area as an alternative to big city living with superior broadband resources. This project is critically important to our region.”

“Two years ago, subscribers in the communities targeted by our Stimulus project were begging us for advanced broadband services, but we didn’t have the resources to connect them,” recalls Terry Hendrickson, CEO of WTA. “Our Stimulus award will allow us to bring vital broadband connectivity to these communities, enabling access to a range of new services and fostering economic development.”

Subscribers in the regions served by Nunn and WTA will have access to fiber access infrastructure enabled by the EXA Powered C7 Multiservice Access Platform (MSAP) and E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP), as well as the 700GE family of optical network terminals (ONTs). All residential and business services will leverage gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology for service delivery, and 10 gigabits per second Ethernet (10GE) for services transport.

Enabled by Calix systems, these networks will be capable of delivering a full gigabit per second of bandwidth to each home and business, if required, and offer the scalability to meet the broadband demands of subscribers in these communities for the next decade or more, says a representative.

Nunn will use its BIP “last mile” award, which consists of $3.9 million in grants and $1.3 million loans, to build an advanced GPON infrastructure to the communities of Nunn and Carr, Colo. The network, engineered around the Calix C7 MSAP, is expected to benefit 200 local businesses and 1,000 individuals.

WTA will use its $2.1 million grant and $2.2 million loan to provide high-speed Internet access to hundreds of homes in the Weldon Valley, which includes the towns of Weldona, Goodrich, and Orchard in northeastern Colorado. The company plans to leverage GPON and 10GE transport technologies over the E7 ESAP to offer an advanced bundle of services, including high-speed data services, video, and reliable voice services.