Great Plains Communications launched a major fiber upgrade project last week. Here, a crew with RND Underground of Derby, Kansas completes some boring along 9th Street, proceeding north to 12th Street in the alley between Court and Douglas Streets. (Johnson Publications photo)
Great Plains Communications adding more rural fiber to local network
Great Plains Communications (GPC) will expand their fiber footprint in rural Chase County as well as in and around Imperial.
With pre-construction planning complete, crews began work last week on the three-part project.
The biggest phase of the project will be the plowing of fiber to connect GPC’s central office in Imperial to the central office in Lamar.
In addition, they plan to take fiber to rural areas north of Lamar, according to District Manager Kevin Poppe of
Grant.
Poppe and other GPC officials met with the Imperial city council March 12 to outline the various projects.
Other phases of the project include the installation of fiber along the Miracle Mile on Hwy. 61 and completing more fiber backbones in several areas throughout Imperial.
Travis Radner, director of engineering for Great Plains, said the company received funding for rural broadband expansion through the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Funding.
The company’s fiber network encompasses 9,500 miles of fiber extending beyond Nebraska into Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Illinois, South Dakota and Wyoming.
The goal over the next 10 years will be to extend fiber-related services to more than 11,000 of their rural customers.
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