Suddenlink Communications will be able to add additional HD channels and faster data services once a fiber-optic route in California that is being built by IP Networks is completed.
San Francisco-based IP Networks is slated to start work soon on the 121-mile fiber-optic route that runs from Cottonwood west to Eureka in California’s Humboldt County. The fiber build is scheduled to be completed in September, and Suddenlink said it was the first local cable company to sign an agreement with IP Networks for use of the route.
“Once completed, the IP Networks project will give us what is commonly known as ‘redundancy’ – a second route for Internet and video traffic in and out of the communities we serve, further enhancing the reliability of our services and giving us additional capacity to launch even faster Internet speeds and additional high-definition TV channels,” said Wendy Purnell, Suddenlink’s director of operations in Humboldt County.
The construction is being financed, in part, with a grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), which was established in late 2007.
“We’re dedicated to enhancing broadband connectivity in California, and we’re very pleased that Suddenlink will be using our new fiber network,” said IP Networks vice president Mary-Lou Smulders. “IP Networks’ unique relationship with the power utility enables us to more easily reach less accessible communities. As broadband demand increases, we look forward to similar projects delivering broadband to rural and other remote communities in the near future.”
Suddenlink Communications is the nation’s seventh-largest cable operator, with residential and business customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia.
