Fiber Optic Cable, Columbus, KS

• Communities need to be healthy for business to succeed
• Small communities need to invest in themselves because traditional broadband providers will always overlook smaller communities
• Communities can't sit and wait for help

Columbus, Kansas is a small town of approximately 3,370 residents located in southeast Kansas. At a first glance, Columbus may seem to be just like any other small town that is trying to attract new business and residents as well as retain their current population. Columbus is not unique in its struggle to find successful community economic development polices.

What makes Columbus unique is that the entire town is served by a fiber optic network that provides voice, video, and high-speed data to residential and commercial users in the community.

Columbus has a member-owned telephone cooperative and recognized the need to upgrade the old copper facilities. As the co-op was considering which technology made the most sense for their upgrade they considered hybrid fiber coax that would have met their initial goals to become an Internet service provider capable of offering higher speed service. However, the telephone cooperative realized that the economic success of their community depended on the ability to offer high-speed Internet access at competitive prices. The cooperative decided to replace the entire network with fiber optics, justifying the expense as a necessary investment in the future of their community.

The project began in January 2004 and took about 24 months to complete. The telephone cooperative is focused on economic development and has started "operation back home again" which is trying to draw young professionals who grew up in the region back to the area by offering affordable living, broadband access and a reasonable commute to more urban areas. The community continues to look for opportunities to attract e-businesses to local incubator space. They offer several hundred square feet of manufacturing space with fiber to the door. Columbus believes that investing in the fiber network was investing in the future and that once people and business start returning to Columbus more retail and service investments will follow.

Contact: Jim Dahmen, General Manager, Columbus Telephone Company
Phone: 620-429-3132