Emery Telcom continues to expand its network in an effort to bring high speed broadband to all of southeastern Utah. Emery Telcom has been engaged in a full fiber-to-the-home deployment in Carbon and Emery counties for the past five years. During this time, it has expanded fiber deployments in Hanksville, Moab, Monticello and Blanding.
In addition, Emery Telcom is now partnering with various agencies to expand even further. Emery Telcom is working with the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN) to bring fiber to the communities of White Mesa, Bluff, Montezuma Creek, Monument Valley and Navajo Mountain. These projects will focus on bringing high-speed broadband to the schools in those communities, but will result in future fiber deployments for each of the communities. These projects will result in over 200 miles of additional fiber and will allow remote schools like Navajo Mountain High School to have access to additional online resources and classes.
“We are very excited about our partnership with UETN to provide advanced fiber resources to the students in these communities,” said Brock Johansen, CEO of Emery Telcom. “We are additionally excited because it expands our fiber footprint down into Arizona and provides access to networks going to Albuquerque, NM and around to Page, AZ. This route could eventually provide fiber redundancy to the entire southern portion of the state of Utah.”
Emery Telcom is also working with the USDA to bring fiber to the communities of Castle Valley, La Sal, Mexican Hat and Halchita. These projects are full fiber-to-the-home projects. The USDA program is designed to bring fiber connectivity to remote, rural communities. The Castle Valley project is in the bid phase, but the other projects are still in the permitting phase.
In addition, Emery Telcom is working with the Utah Department of Transportation, Colorado Department of Transportation and other industry partners to place a new fiber route from Salt Lake City to Denver, CO. This route will be the first high-count, low-latency fiber connecting the two cities on the I-70 route.
“The key to all of these projects is permitting. These projects have short funding windows, and cross a lot of government and tribal lands. We are working with our partners at the BLM and Forest Service, and with various tribal agencies. If we are unable to get some of the permits in a timely manner, then we will lose the funding for the projects, which would be devastating for those communities. Emery Telcom really appreciates the support it has received from Representative Curtis and Senator Romney on every aspect of these projects.” Johansen said.
Utah Senator Mitt Romney urged the Bureau of Land Management to expedite the fiber projects through a letter sent last week.
“The project timeframes are set by the funding agencies, such as Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),” Romney said in the letter. “It is my understanding that each project requires permitting from federal agencies, including BLM. It is critical that any permitting delays be avoided to ensure that Emery Telcom can complete the builds on time and prevent the loss of federal dollars supporting these projects.”
Romney continued by encouraging the BLM to work with the permitting agencies involved and with Emery Telcom to complete permitting for the three projects within their respective deadlines. “This will ensure continued federal funding to deploy essential broadband fiber facilities in rural Utah,” Romney said.