September 21, 2020, Aurora, Neb. — Local technology and telecommunications company Hamilton Telecommunications announced that it is expanding its fiber network to provide Fiber to the Home to 250 eligible residents in Central City and the immediate surrounding area. In August, Hamilton was awarded a grant by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (NDED) to help offset some of the costs in constructing the fiber mainline. The company began construction for the fiber network in Central City neighborhoods on Monday, August 25th with the goal to complete all mainline fiber construction by December 31st, 2020.
“We are very pleased to have been awarded the opportunity to continue to expand our fiber network in Central City,” said Dan Molliconi, Chief Operating Office for Hamilton Telecommunications. “We have delivered internet service to Central City for the past twenty-four years. As our fiber network expanded closer and closer to Central City, taking the next step to deliver fiber to the home for some of the residents in that area was a great fit.”
Recently, the Merrick County Supervisors and the Central City Council approved use of the public right of ways for Hamilton to facilitate the additional deployment of fiber in the area. “We are grateful for the support we have received from the Merrick County and Central City leadership,” Molliconi said. “We are looking forward to continuing to work with area leaders as well as the residents, to deliver the fastest internet connections through our fiber infrastructure.”
The Broadband Grant through NDED allows the company to provide fiber to approximately 250 eligible households in and around Central City. The eligible households covered under the grant include some households in and around the city but does not include the entire city or all households in Merrick County. Merrick County residents interested in fiber can contact Hamilton to find out if their address is in the eligible area.
The Nebraska Broadband Grant Program was created to provide high-speed broadband internet access to unserved and underserved Nebraskans who have been directly impacted by Covid-19. According to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, the fund is designed to be used to provide financial assistance to install and deliver broadband infrastructure and service in the state.
An early adopter of fiber optic technology, Hamilton began burying fiber to connect its offices in 1982. Over the course of the next thirty-eight years, Hamilton continued to invest in its fiber infrastructure, expanding its network closer to the homes of customers in its local exchange service territory as well as closer to Central City. The company already has six miles of fiber throughout Central City and has been offering direct fiber connections to Central City businesses for the past five years.
“We know that the growing ‘Internet of Things’, including smart home and farming technologies, has greatly increased the need for more broadband. Fiber-to-the-home broadband is the highest standard of Internet service and will dramatically increase the reliability, speeds and services our customers can receive,” said John Nelson, President of Hamilton Telecommunications.
Customers in the eligible areas will have access to Hamilton services including Fiber-to-the-Home data plans with speeds up to 1 Gig, Managed Wi-Fi, Cobalt TV, and telephone service. For Central City area residents with questions related to fiber service, please contact the business office at 402-694-5101 or complete a short online survey at HamiltonTel.com/IWantFiberCC to share with us more about your broadband needs.
“Our communities are great places for our residents to live, work and play, and we want to ensure that they have access to the best connectivity to Internet, video, managed wi-fi services and more,” said Dan Molliconi, Chief Operating Officer of Telecom and Technology at Hamilton.
The company is concurrently in the middle of a multi-year fiber construction process to deliver fiber to the home for 100% of customers in the communities and rural areas of Aurora, Hampton, Giltner, Marquette, Hordville, Stockham, Phillips, Doniphan and Trumbull. The company has two separate crews working on both projects to maintain the timeline designated by the grant and to continue its ongoing efforts to reach customers in its local telephone exchange area with fiber-to-the-home.
Hamilton Telecommunications is a diversified telecommunications and technology services provider based in Aurora, Neb. Founded in 1901, Hamilton Telecommunications encompasses seven primary company divisions that allow Hamilton to operate on a local, regional and national basis.