Hawaiian Telcom broadband service was expanded to 10,740 additional locations during 2020, the carrier said.
The service to these locations reaches speeds of 940 Mbps downloads and 300 Mbps uploads. Almost 2,400 of the locations are defined by the FCC as high cost and/or in isolated rural areas.
The new areas include:
- ‘Āinaloa, Hawaiian Acres, Hawi, Kapaau, Kawaihae, Ocean View Estates, Pahoa Village, Papaikou, and Volcano on the Big Island;
- Huelo, Kahoma Village, Wailuku and Ulupalakua on Maui;
- Kōloa and Princeville on Kaua‘i, and
- Waialua, Waipahu and Waipi‘o on O‘ahu.
The deployment is partially funded by the FCC’s Connect Amerca Fund (CAF) program.
During the past five years, Hawaiian Telcom says it has deployed broadband service to more than 10,000 homes and business in rural areas on various islands that comprise the state.
“Hawaiian Telcom is committed to helping to bridge the digital divide here in Hawai‘i by expanding access to our world-class broadband service,” Dan Masutomi, Hawaiian Telcom’s Director – Network Planning said in a press release about the Hawaiian Telcom broadband news. “Over the years, our team has become adept at overcoming the challenges associated with rural broadband deployment such as clearing heavily forested areas and traversing mountainous lava rock terrain.”
The growth seems to be ongoing. Last September, Hawaiian Telcom owner Cincinnati Bell said it would expand broadband coverage in several areas, including Hawaii using spectrum in that it won in CBRS Auction 105. At the time, Cincinnati Bell said that through the end of 2020 it had provided cell site backhaul services to about 80% of 1,100 cell sites in Hawaii.
