Douglas PUD Finishing Fiber-Optic Cable Installation

Douglas County PUD is working to finish out its fiber-optic service to the last few residents in the county that do not have access to it. 

PUD commissioners have approved a $3.2 million contract renewal with Cascade Cable Contractors to install the cable. 

Douglas PUD spokesperson Meaghan Vibbert says the goal is to have fiber-optic service available to all their customers in the next couple of years. 

"This is the last push to, kind of, get those final couple of thousand customers that we haven't made serviceable for our fiber-optic system," said Vibbert.  

According to Vibbert, the PUD has roughly 17,000 customers in Douglas County that are connected to about 20,000 meters that track the use of electrical power.  

The contract renewal with Cascade Cable approved this week runs through the end of this year. 

Vibbert says Cascade will install the cable mostly underground to reach the far-off areas of the county. 

"Most of the areas that they're working in are rural areas up on the plateau that are harder to get at," Vibbert said. 

There are also some small pockets of customers in the East Wenatchee area that still don't have access to fiber-optic cable service. 

The PUD's website says its Douglas County Community Network (DCCN) delivers voice and data to end users at speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second. 

Vibbert says speeds of 100 Megabits per second are available to the internet providers. The 100 Megabit speed applies to both uploads and downloads on the internet. 

The PUD is only allowed to provide wholesale service. It currently works with seven providers who bridge the gap to retail customers. 

Those providers include LocalTel, iFIBER Communications, 509Fiber, NCI Datacom, North Ridge, Star Touch Broadband Services and Wholesail Networks.