The Konawa City Council voted recently to join a consortium of cities that will partner with Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative to apply for grants.

Council member Mark Duck explained that a few months ago CVEC Board member Joe Semtner approached him suggesting Konawa join the group of cities that includes Cromwell, Wanette, and Maud to apply for grants as they become available. One specific grant Duck focused on was for an NTIA (U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration) that would provide high speed, fiber optic internet access inside city limits.

Duck explained the service would provide 150 megabits per second down and 150 megabits up. He added this is about ten times faster than any other service available and would cost around $65 a month. The Canadian Valley website shows 150 mbps is the lowest of three levels, with a 1gig download and a 2.4 gig download packages also available. Although the service isn’t yet available in this area, it is expanding rapidly.

Duck stated this service would provide much needed connectivity for all residents and raise the marketability of the town for others to move into. It would be ideal for telecommuters (someone who works from home on a computer), and for large businesses, this would support many computers at the top end of their capabilities of 2.4 gigabits per second. To give an idea of how fast 2.4 gig is, he explained you could download a Blue Ray movie in about three seconds with this kind of speed. Telecommuters would have no trouble with multiple videos at the same time on many terminals. In conclusion, Duck stated this would improve the marketability of the city and potentially increase their tax base.

According to the ntia.doc. gov website, NTIA is chiefly dedicated to the goals of increasing the use of spectrum by all users, expanding broadband Internet access and adoption in America, and ensuring that the Internet remains an engine for the American economy’s continued innovation and growth. NTIA also represents the Executive Branch in domestic and international telecommunications policy activities, advocates for secure 5G communications, and is a leading source of research and data on the status of broadband availability and adoption in America.