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Texas Co-op Chooses High-end Fiber Route with XGS-PON

Randy Sukow

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Warehouse with wooden coil wire fiber cable.

Fiber infrastructure company ADTRAN today said that it will provide United Cooperative Services (UCS), serving 14 counties in Northern Texas, an XGS-PON solution. NRTC worked with UCS to design the project and is managing network construction. UCS ultimately will provide fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service to a large majority of the homes and businesses in its region.

“UCS is continuously working to find new ways to provide members with exceptional service and value,” said General Manager and CEO Cameron Smallwood, in a press release. “Through a member vote, we received a 91 percent approval rate to move forward with deploying a network to provide 10 Gbps services. We will be able to provide a seamless high-speed broadband internet experience to our members, enabling them to thrive in today’s connected world.”

By starting with XGS-PON technology, the UCS plan ensures that its members will have access to high-end broadband service for years to come. As ADTRAN explained in a recent webinar, the Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) platform, delivering shared speeds of 2.5 Gbps capacity downstream and 1.25 Gbps upstream, has been the typical option in recent years. However, faster technologies, such as 10 Gigabit Symmetrical (XGS) are rapidly becoming more common and cost-effective.

With 10 Gbps shared speeds in both directions, UCS FTTH subscribers will be able to draw on greater capacity. A small percentage of USC subscribers in very remote areas will receive fixed wireless service in the last mile but will still benefit from a fiber backbone feeding the wireless transmitters. The UCS goal is to provide at least 100 Mbps to its entire service area.

“It is our mission to help our electric cooperative and telephone members bring the advantages of the best technology available to their communities,” said Scott Pell, chief technology officer for NRTC Broadband Solutions. “ADTRAN’s commitment to building flexible and scalable networks, experience in delivering XGS-PON and long history of serving rural communities made them the ideal partner for UCS’ network build.”

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