Bolt Fiber is Coming to Rural Oklahoma, Latest Electric Utility Gigabit Broadband Project

Until now gigabit broadband projects in metro markets have garnered the most attention. But Bolt Fiber Optic Services, a unit of Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, said it plans to offer gigabit broadband service in its rural Oklahoma serving area.

Bolt Fiber Optic Services plans to offer high-definition video services as well as high-speed Internet over the gigabit passive optical network (GPON) that it plans to build using equipment from Alcatel-Lucent. Customers also will be able to use third-party voice-over-Internet protocol offerings, the company noted in the announcement.

The company plans to begin offering service in the fourth quarter of 2014 and to complete the deployment by April 2017.

As a utility company, Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative is not entitled to Universal Service funding. And some readers may be surprised that the company is able to make a business case for ultra-high-speed broadband deployment without that funding.