Highland Telephone Selects Calix E7 for Broadband Stimulus Project

Calix has announced that broadband stimulus award winner Highland Telephone Cooperative has selected the Calix Unified Access portfolio to deliver advanced broadband services to rural Tennessee and Kentucky. A $66.5 million project, composed of a $49.9 million loan and $16.5 million in grants for plant engineering, materials, labor, and other costs, including access equipment, this ambitious fiber project will use gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology to bring advanced broadband to approximately 18,000 homes, 1,800 small businesses, and 100 anchor institutions.

"Just as the Tennessee Valley Authority brought opportunity and economic development to this region over half a century ago, we believe the broadband stimulus program is going to have the same impact in stimulating new development in this rural region of Tennessee," said Fred Terry, general manager of Highland Telephone Cooperative, in a statement. "As a result of the over 1,700 linear miles of fiber planned to be deployed over the next three years, the communities in our region will be able to access and utilize advanced services over broadband like video, extremely fast high-speed data, and reliable voice services."

The rural subscribers included in this initiative will be served via a combination of fiber access technologies, including GPON to all residences, businesses, and cell towers, and redundant ten-gigabit Ethernet (10GE) ringed transport technologies delivered via primarily the Calix E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform.