The Great Plains Communications, a Midwestern telecommunications provider, backed by Grain Management, LLC, acquisition of the Wood River Network from Fiber Nebraska LLC., closed December 31.
Fiber Nebraska is a fiber construction company formed to build and operate networks in underserved Nebraska communities.
The 10.6-mile network will allow Great Plains Communications to provide fiber-driven services to approximately 500 homes and 60 businesses in Wood River, Nebraska, a town of 1,500 centrally located to Kearney, Grand Island and Hastings, Nebraska.
“Wood River is adjacent to our company’s Kearney and Grand Island fiber, and therefore will be a great addition to our network as a whole,” said Todd Foje, CEO of Great Plains Communications. “We are looking forward to serving Wood River homes and businesses with fiber to the home and fiber to the business services that have previously only been available in larger urban markets.”
The Wood River technology advancements the network provides include high-speed internet up to 1 Gbps, streaming video and voice to allow residential customers to work and learn from home, stream entertainment and operate multiple devices simultaneously without lag or buffering.
Business services include fully scalable, symmetrical fiber internet speeds, managed Wi-Fi and traditional and cloud-based voice options. The network also will allow Wood River to position itself as a fiber-rich community to attract new businesses and residents.
Additional engineering and construction will begin immediately to connect to the core Great Plains Communications’ network. Fiber services are expected to be available to Wood River by summer.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Great Plains Communications is one of the largest privately-owned telecommunications providers in the Midwest. It is based in Blair, Nebraska, and has more than a century of experience providing business and residential customers in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska and Southeastern Indiana communities with forward-thinking, fiber-based technology services including high-speed internet, Ethernet, video, hosted and traditional voice solutions.
At the core of its service offering is an extensive, MEF-certified 13,500-mile regional fiber network that reaches 13 states: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
