Thirteen Arkansas electric cooperatives have formed a new wholesale fiber provider called Diamond State Networks to expand broadband access across the state and create a model for bridging the digital divide that can be replicated elsewhere. Doug Maglothin, project leader, said the company is focused on providing ISPs and wireless carriers with a high-quality, mid-mile fiber transmission route. Specifically, its transport rings will be all-fiber and use top-of-the-line 800G technology. The routes will act as a kind of interstate highway with on and off ramps for distribution rings using technologies such as XGS-PON and Ethernet to provide last-mile connectivity to customer locations.
All told, Diamond State's 13 cooperative members have invested or plan to invest $1.66 billion in fiber infrastructure that will cover more than 64 percent of the state's land and nearly 600,000 customer locations. Diamond State hopes to have more co-ops join to boost those numbers, the principals said. It is also working to secure middle-mile funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to further expand member fiber coverage.
Mitchell Johnson, president and CEO of Ozarks Electric and co-managing member of Diamond State, said that providing broadband connectivity is not an easy task for members, given that all members already have some sort of operational fiber. That's partly because fiber is key to future-proofing their electric networks, and most are offering fiber-to-the-home on their own or through subsidiaries to profit from that asset.
There are already a number of people looking to deal with Diamond State, with deals already in place with several local ISPs and negotiations underway with "major Tier 1 providers. It also hopes to do business with wireless carriers to help them connect more cell towers across the state.
The biggest issues it faces now are supply chain issues and expanding its internal workforce to accommodate its expected rapid growth.
Given that electric cooperatives are the fastest-growing group of ISPs, with hundreds deploying or offering fiber services, Johnson said it makes sense that states looking to bridge the digital divide would look to them for solutions. In fact, Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), said in February that about 200 of its 900 members have launched or are in the process of launching retail broadband. The co-ops are uniquely positioned to serve parts of the country that other carriers can't or don't want to reach.
While Diamond State Networks is the first of such alliances, it probably won't be the last.
