Fiber to the Home
What Can I Do Now
Please make sure the contact information on your account is up to date. This will make it easy for us to share details, such as location and availability, once they have been finalized. You can also visit our website and social pages to learn about the progression of the project.
We look forward to building a world-class fiber network that will transform our rural communities just as our founders did with electric 83 years ago.
Tune in here and follow our social pages for updates on the project.
For FTTH projects, our current contractors are the following companies: Lee Inspections, NRTC, Toth and Associates & BBC Electric.
Only WRVEC, WRC, and above contractors are approved to work on your property. Any other person or company representative is not an authorized representative of the Cooperative and its subsidiary White River Connect. Please contact your local authorities if you suspect suspicious behavior.
Project at a glance
2021
- White River Valley Electric Cooperative conducts feasibility study to consider costs, the need for rural area internet connection, terrain, technology, and funding.
2022
- Membership surveyed to solidify vast need of reliable internet service across the area. Board casts unanimous vote to extend fiber internet service through subsidiary business.
- Beau Jackson announced as the CEO of White River Technologies.
2023
- White River Connect chosen as the name and branding assets created.
- White River Connect awarded $47.3 million grant from Missouri’s Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program.
- Field data collection, make ready, and construction start on the 5-year fiber build out project. Construction is expected to start in 3rd quarter.
2024
- High speed internet services planned to be offered to first customers.
FAQS
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National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) is also a cooperative that assists electric co-ops like us with feasibility studies, network design, and deployment of internet services.
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There are a number of things that determine where we start such as headend locations and redundancy. Forestry and railroad permitting plays a big role. Grant obligations will also dictate certain locations timelines. We are working through these items in our design phase now.
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Based on current supply chain and permitting, the project is estimated to cost $260 million.
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White River Connect will be competitive with market prices while delivering fast, symmetrical speeds with reliable service. We will also subscribe to the Affordable Connectivity Program, which is an income-qualifying program for subscribers to receive up to $30 credit on their bill
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The cost of power and materials continue to rise. We have shouldered those expenses for several years without an increase but it’s not sustainable long-term. Most of our neighboring utilities have increased rates already because of that. It wouldn’t occur specifically from the fiber project.
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Our members are our priority; however, we do have plans to work with others to extend our network and provide additional connectivity to non-members areas that don’t have adequate access to fast, reliable internet service.
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Our team is working to ensure all our members have access to reliable internet within five years. Funding, permitting, and the system design all factor into what areas will receive access first. We already have boots on the ground in many areas and look forward to construction starting in 3rd quarter of this year.
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White River Connect is currently modeling speeds up to gig speeds with symmetrical download and upload speeds.
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We are evaluating billing options now. We are looking at the potential for bills to arrive in the same envelope, but they will be separate bills.
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With multiple routes for data transmission, we will be building a redundant system that remains reliable in all times of day.
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Construction will begin in third quarter of this year, and we will start adding subscribers to the network as soon as early 2024.
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To help provide our subscribers with affordable rates, we plan to utilize the Electric Cooperative’s existing infrastructure, whenever possible. That includes both overhead and underground.
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The fiber will belong to White River Connect and will be available to members as well as non-members. Being a for-profit subsidiary, subscribers will not be allocated patronage capital. However, plans will be highly competitive.
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$9.3 million was committed between 3 different counties to use as a local match to help us secure the larger grants available such as the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) which awarded WRC $47 million. The community support has played a big role.
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We deliver best-in-class service with this project. While we will start onboarding fiber employees this year, our staffing will be scaled based on our number of subscribers.
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At this point, our plan is to use existing facilities.
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WRVEC applied for seven grants through the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The Cooperative received funding for all seven applications. The total awarded for WRVEC’s broadband project was $47.3 million. WRVEC was the largest recipient of the ARPA grants in the state of Missouri. Realizing the economic impact on their communities – Ozark, Stone, and Taney Counties collectively committed $9.3 million of county ARPA allocations to serve as a local match to secure the larger grants. White River Connect is pursuing other grant funding options as well.