Wireless internet to reach rural Whitman county

Wireless internet will soon hit the far reaches of Whitman County- a landmark in technology advancement for many towns previously dial-up-bound.

The Port of Whitman will soon have $9.8 million to bring high-speed internet to many towns throughout the county.

Port officials learned Monday that the overall application put together by the Northwest Open Access Network (NOA) had been selected for funding by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Construction of the fiber optic line would create hundreds of jobs throughout eastern Washington, according to one port official. More would be needed to maintain and manage the fiber network.

A portion of the total project would link Spokane and the Tri-Cities with dozens of strands of high-speed fiber optic line that is slated to connect through the Palouse.

The fiber will begin in Spokane and be laid in the right-of-way of the 76-mile state-owned railroad down the east side of the county.

The state purchased the railway line from WATCO. The Washington & Idaho Railroad now operates in the line.

Port of Whitman properties and development manager Debbie Snell said the number of strands in the fiber line should provide residents decades of data transmitting capacity.

Snell pointed out the fiber line will provide private telecommunications companies with a higher speed and more reliable connection to the small towns along the line.

That provides a potential in those towns for internet-dependent businesses to spring up.

“This will provide our citizens and our rural region the same opportunities for economic growth that you see in metropolitan areas,” Joe Poire, port director said in a statement released Monday.

The port will have to put up a 20 percent match against the federal grant, which would amount to $1.96 million.

Snell was unsure where the port’s match would come from. If the money is needed up front, she said, the port will likely have to issue revenue bonds. Spread out over three years, she said, the agency should have enough revenue to pay off the match.

In total, the project was awarded $84 million to build broadband transmission infrastructure throughout the state. The overall project will build 830 miles of fiber optic cables and eight new microwave transmitters.

NOA Net, based in Tacoma, is a non-profit company that operates a broadband network that includes more than 1,500 miles of fiber, primarily laid in rural areas throughout the state.

The fiber will initially be used to give medical clinics and libraries in Whitman County a link to high-speed internet.

Kristie Kirkpatrick, director of the county’s library system, said the new fiber line, once installed, will allow libraries in towns throughout the county to access online museum exhibits, large reference databases and internet teleconference sites.

“It just opens up a whole new world of possibilities for programs we never could have imagined,” she said.

Kirkpatrick added the potentially greatest benefit will be in accessing online education courses offered by many universities and community colleges.

“That would be huge,” she said. “Even yesterday, a gal was down printing off 220 pages she needed for a class.”