Port signs first fiber contract

Seattle-based telecommunications company CenturyLink signed on to be the first user of the Port of Whitman County’s new 170-mile fiber optic cable.

Port commissioners signed a 10-year lease to use four strands of the 144-strand fiber optic cable at a price of $135,621 a year with CenturyLink at their regular meeting last Thursday, Nov. 1. The lease includes an option for a 10-year extension.

“Build it and they shall come,” said Port Commissioner Tom Kammerzell.

Construction of the line, which connects Spokane and Clarkston through Whitman County, is nearly finished. Debbie Snell, port properti...