Expansion Update
By: Jill Kuehny CEO
Summer was packed with technology updates in our schools before students returned. It’s also our heavy construction season, although we construct nearly all year long and won’t let up any time soon. In an effort to bring the best telecommunications technology and friendly service to our outlying areas, we are connecting our third county seat with our robust fiber optic network in the past two years.
Kanokla made progress (pushing a boulder uphill on one) on 8 broadband projects this summer! Busy is definitely a relative word, but we are BUSY! We are grateful for the moonshot opportunity to access grant funding to expand our fiber footprint with both state and federal grants. Three projects are currently under construction with a fourth undergoing the preliminary staking and permitting work.
Federally, our 2020 USDA Reconnect 1 grant/loan is FINALLY nearing the halfway mark of a 30-day environmental review period. Delivery of the report was delayed because of Hurricane Helene (another delay!). This project has hit every roadblock imaginable, but we are pushing through! All staking is complete and permits applied. Once we receive the green light from Osage Nation, we are off and running! We are also assisting Kaw Nation with a federal tribal fiber optic project.
Living on the Kansas-Oklahoma line, we are preparing to apply for federal BEAD grant funding through both states, each with their unique approaches. The Kansas BEAD grant application window opened this week with a handful of difficult map hiccups for Kanokla and/or the state to overcome as we are past the point of fixing the never-correct map. The Oklahoma BEAD platform is currently in the contesting period to which Kanokla submitted several contests to the map, reflecting our served locations as it changes daily due to the construction in Cherokee and Medford. Deduplication is a priority objective in funding broadband projects as is deploying fiber optic technology. Both fixed wireless (licensed and unlicensed) and satellite may be acceptable substitutes if no bids are received for locations too hard to reach, at least in Kansas. Oklahoma rules are still in the works. In fact, we are hosting Oklahoma Broadband Office director, Mike Sanders, this week for a demonstration of some of our fixed wireless gear in Medford.
Since COVID, when the nation’s underwhelming connectivity was laid bare, it’s incredible to witness the competition arriving out of nowhere – well, mostly fixed wireless companies out of Texas. Also, a surprising number of private equity groups are swarming to take grant dollars, build to sell, and are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is nothing quick or profitable in the business cases of rural broadband, otherwise we would not be in this predicament. Cooperatives do the long work of serving sparser areas for a slow return of the investment.
October is national cooperative month, highlighting the important work cooperatives do to provide universal service to our rural region. Small communities have a unique strength that urban areas do not; a built-in connective tissue made up of a shared sense of place, less about self-serving and more for the whole, which is really powerful when activated. Our communities are an ecosystem that needs all of its parts functioning well together. Ruralness naturally creates resourcefulness, and regionally, we know where to find certain things in certain towns. You also know the people in the town next over; do business with them, compete in school activities, share a pew. Combining efforts in 1951, Kanokla formed our cooperative to connect communities and the spaces in between together with telecommunications, modern technology and rural ingenuity. This is why we exist.
No matter your size or location, every community needs broadband to function in the modern world. It’s amazing how digital and automated we live with our banking, healthcare, education, work, precision agriculture, interaction with government, retail, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, etc. Small businesses make the world go around, and the ability to add e-commerce and automation to their toolbelt widens their opportunities. Economic development in our areas is attracting people to work and live a quality life right here in the heartland. Or, some bring their work with them to live an expansive, peaceful existence without traffic or long lines.
We all have something in common; wanting the best for our neck of the woods or our spot on the map. Kanokla’s mission to bring advanced telecommunications to our region, foster economic development, enhance employment opportunities, and provide exceptional customer service to our members and neighbors is our cooperative spirit in action.
