Whidbey Telecom, a service provider in Washington, will use Ekinops360 middle-mile optical transport equipment to serve remote and difficult-to-access locations, according to the vendor.
The areas to be served — South Whidbey, Hat Island and Point Roberts — are close to Seattle but considered rural and underserved. The project is using grants from the Community Connect Grants program that are issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program and middle-mile program funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
The vendor will use Ekinops gear to connect the fiber network it is building to remotely located internet exchanges.
Whidbey will use the Ekinops360 with the PM_600FRS06-SF FlexRate Muxponder to provide 600G of wavelength division multiplex (WDM) per channel transport capacity as far as 90 kilometers throughout its service area. This includes an undersea cable across the Salish Sea. Lower speed cards will provide service aggregation at the endpoints.
“This expansion will fully support our broadband initiatives and is really just the first phase of a strategic build for Whidbey Telecom,” Whidbey Telecom COO Donna Hilty said in the announcement of the Washington expansion.
“It will also allow us to expand our wholesale service business providing backhaul services over our fiber network to our partner service providers as far away as Alaska.”
Whidbey has been working towards its upgrades since mid 2023. In June of that year, it gained $11.8 million in middle-mile funding from the NTIA. In all, $930 million was awarded, with Zayo taking top spot with $92.8 million.
In April of this year, Whidbey Telecom announced that it selected Snohomish, Washington-based ATCO Communications Services LLC to be the primary contractor and project manager for upgrades of the area between Port Roberts and South Whidbey Island.
The next month, Whidbey Telecom was one of six providers awarded funding from the Washington Public Works Broad. The company got a $764,000 grant and a $3.7 million loan for its middle-mile and last-mile initiatives.
