Nov 5 2009
Garden Valley Telephone to bring FTTH to large expanse of rural geography
Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLFD) products and services have been selected by Garden Valley Telephone Company for a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployment in northwestern Minnesota. Based in Erskine, Minn., Garden Valley Telephone Company (GVTEL) is one of the largest telephone cooperatives in the state, serving 24 exchanges. The new deployment will encompass almost 500 route miles in and around Erskine, McIntosh, Winger, Gatzke, and St. Hilaire, Minnesota.
The project will bring the newest broadband services to a sparsely populated, large geographical area, according to Facilities Manager Randy Versdahl, who has been with GVTEL for 32 years. “The vast terrain and rural locale pose a special challenge because we’ll be running hundreds of miles of fiber. But it’s necessary because our customers deserve access to the same kind of telecommunications services available in large urban areas, like IPTV and higher internet speeds.”
The topography of the GVTEL market area makes cost effective broadband deployment a challenge. “The modularity of the FieldSmart platform allows customers like GVTEL to reduce costs by configuring fiber management to the unique needs of their rural environment,” explains Cheri Beranek, president and CEO of Clearfield. “We are focused on providing the solutions broadband service providers require to reduce the cost of broadband deployment.”
There were a variety of reasons for GVTEL's decision to use Clearfield integrated products for this deployment. "One of the main concerns with any large scale project is cost. Clearfield's products are simply less expensive to deploy and operate than the competition," said Versdahl. "Additionally, it was important to have a flexible and reliable long-term solution that would protect future FTTP deployments. Clearfield’s outside plant cabinets allow us to make efficient use of our existing fiber optic cable network as well as plan for future growth.”
“Plus, we just liked the way Clearfield’s products looked," he added.
With adaptability, cost, and even appearance taken into account, GVTEL’s new FTTH home deployment is currently under way. Even as colder temperatures begin to settle on the North Star State, Versdahl says the installation is going well. “Our only real concern now is making sure this stage of the project gets done before the ground freezes.”