For 67 years, Wilkes Communications (Wilkesboro, N.C.) has served rural Wilkes County, North Carolina, where it faces an unusual challenge: Most of the land in its service area is comprised of dense rock substrate, requiring special boring and trenching efforts to install fiber. In addition, a large portion of the population is low income, and the local economy has been declining.
Despite these challenges, Wilkes Communications has been rolling out an all-active, Gigabit Ethernet, fiber-to-the-home network that supports broadband at speeds between 25/3 Mbps and 1 Gbps/100 Mbps. By next year, the company expects to have deployed fiber to all customers in its local service territory that are currently only served by slower DSL technology.
As a result of Wilkes Communications’ network upgrade, residents have been able to participate in distance learning and online programs offered by a local community college. The company also offers internships to local high school students that immerse the students in a broadband-centered environment.
Wilkes Communications offers phone, internet, digital television, metro Ethernet and Ethernet transport services to educational, health care and government facilities in its service area. One such facility is a local hospital, recently acquired by a major health care system in Winston-Salem, that uses service from Wilkes Communications to interconnect hospital locations. A key initiative for the hospital is a new psychiatric telemedicine program that will rely on broadband from Wilkes Communications.
Another customer that has benefited from Wilkes Communications’ high-speed broadband is Mathis ASJ Farms, which uses the service to remotely control fans and monitor the moisture in grain bins. The connection provides up-to-the-minute weather information and support online supply and equipment ordering, and the ability to send photos of equipment in need of service can help minimize repair costs and downtime.
The company is also planning pilot demonstration projects with North Carolina Electric Membership Cooperatives that will bring broadband to additional unserved and underserved areas of the state. In addition, the pilots will support innovative energy solutions aimed at enabling consumers to better manage their home energy use. The deployment will also help students maximize their use of school-provided computers and tablets that some students currently are unable to use at home.
Wilkes Communications is also nearing completion on a deployment that will bring fiber to the Stokes County school system, which serves over 6,100 students in 19 schools.
