Two Seward County communities will soon be able to offer fiber internet to all homes and businesses.
ALLO Communications announced fiber-to-the-premise projects offering 10 gigabit bandwidth in Seward and Milford.
Both projects are expected to begin in the spring of 2022.
Milford mayor Patrick Kelley said the announcement is significant for the city, as it provides a vital resource for current residents and adds a service to entice potential new residents and businesses.
“Something I have been working towards since I came into public office is trying to set the table so to speak and provide every resource to make our community attractive for people looking to relocate,” he said.
Seward mayor Josh Eickmeier said ALLO's investment in the community puts Seward ahead of others that cannot provide fast, reliable internet to its homes and businesses.
“While other communities struggle to gain access to broadband internet, we are fortunate that ALLO Communications will bring high-speed fiber internet access to every home and business in Seward,” he said.
Per information provided by ALLO, the network will feature a 10 gigabit symmetric service that provides equal upload and download speeds to each small business and residential customer via a Wi-Fi 6 router. Services offered through ALLO will include internet, data transport, video, phone systems and connectivity to cloud providers.
Seward city administrator Greg Butcher said the partnership with ALLO has been in the works for nearly five years. He said the company and the city worked closely to ensure the correct infrastructure was in place and once everything was set up, ALLO elected to move forward with the project.
“They were interested in getting a Geographic Information System, establishing easements and utility poles so they could build out an engineering plan,” Butcher said. “That's what they've been working on and I think they got to this point where they're ready to go forward.”
Jonathan Jank, Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership president and CEO, said the breadth of services ALLO will offer aligns well with a recent emphasis on remote working. Now, residents and small business owners have the opportunity to work from home with access to a number of in-demand services.
“We have more people doing work remotely and more businesses being flexible how people work,” he said. “If people are able to work from home a couple of days a week, you need this reliable and affordable technology.
“It's critical to Seward County to be able to have that amenity expectation.”
Jank added that the ALLO projects will add a significant recruiting tool to Seward County.
“Companies are more mindful than ever about quality of life and quality of place,” he said. “This is an amenity expectation that businesses have when they're thinking about where they're going to expand or relocate. If you don't have this technology or broadband connectivity, they're not going to look at you.”
Brad Moline, ALLO president and CEO, said connecting smaller, rural communities with fiber is a cornerstone of ALLO's mission and Seward and Milford fit the criteria ALLO looks for in new projects.
“Seward and Milford deserve world-class communications,” he said. “Our goal is to enable and future-proof each community's communication infrastructure.
“We're ready to open up the windows of opportunity to further Seward and Milford's success.”
