Next Level Broadband Project underway in Benton County

So far, around 30 miles of fiber optic cable has been deployed.

The company Mainstream Fiber Networks will eventually deploy over 100 miles of cable.

This will allow residents and businesses to have access to high-speed internet.

Have been deploying fiber optic cables across the county since august.

I talked with county leaders as well as the company about why this installation is so important.

Reliable internet has been hard to come by in benton county for years.

"when you look at benton county they were actually outlined by a study that came out of purdue university the digital divide index as being number two in the state for having the least connectivity."- zach stephens but now..

That's all about to change.

"it's gotten to the point where we are actually hanging fiber they are hanging quite a bit everyday.

It's not far at being a reality at this point."-paul jackson mainstream fiber networks is the company who is investing in benton county.

The hoosier owned company specializes in provided connectivity to rural indiana.

"we've always been focusing on rural indiana specifically making sure they are on a level playing field and larger urban areas in the state."- zach stephens the project was made possible by the state's next level broadband grants.

When the project is finished, around 2,400 unserved households and 554 unserved businesses in benton county will have access to high speed internet.

Which will help the county's economic future.

"nobody is going to want to bring a company or their family to this area if you can't stream netflix.

If you can't run a business ... if you can't do that kind of stuff ... it will hopefully create a lot more growth for the area."- paul jackson and this project is just the beggining of mainstream fibers expansion in the area.

"once the next level connections project is completed then it goes to expansion so we can try to cover as many people in the county with this project as possible."- zach stephens mainstream fiber networks says they hope to have the project completed by march or april of next year.

They are also opening a store front in benton county so they can have people on the ground ready to troubleshoot any issues that may arise when needed.

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