Pioneer Telephone marks first year of fiber expansion

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Nov 30, 20170

Rural Whitman County residents can expect faster broadband speeds coming their way as Pioneer Telephone has already started upgrading its lines to fiber optics.

“Everything seems to be going pretty smooth,” said Dallas Filan, Pioneer Telephone general manager.

Thanks to grant money from the state’s Universal Service Fund, in conjunction with federal funds, Pioneer is undertaking an upgrade from copper to fiber to serve residents in its 800 square mile service area. The total figure to make the move is expected to cost about $8.5 million. According to Filan, it works out to about $26,000 per home to bring in the fiber.

“It just isn’t feasible to do that without the help of the government,” he said.

The improvements will provide rural customers that same access as someone in Spokane. The government funding means they will only have to pay about the same for that access as Spokane residents.

Construction on the project began June 1. This first year 21 miles of fiber were laid between LaCrosse and Hooper. Filan noted they had wanted to do more, but the fiber was on back-order 35 weeks out which set things behind locally.

Next year Pioneer plans to expand the fiber access into the towns of LaCrosse and Endicott. Customers will go from having 5.5 megabyte download speed to 25 megabyte.

Pioneer Telephone covers southwestern Whitman County and into Adams County about 10 miles. It serves Hay, Winona, Hooper, Dusty, Central Ferry, LaCrosse and Endicott, going as far north as Texas Lake. The expansion is projected to be completed in a five- to six-year time frame. Once the new fiber is in, Filan expects the company will probably have to replace some electronics to cope.

Ninth District Representatives Joe Schmick and Mary Dye along with Sen. Mark Schoesler visited the Pioneer Telephone office in LaCrosse Nov. 20 along with Betty Buckley, executive director of WITA, the Washington Independent Telecommunications Association. WITA is a leading advocate for the telecommunications industry in Washington State. Filan and staff were able to show the representatives the USF dollars in action, demonstrating the difference between copper and fiber; broadband over the fiber is 10 times faster than over the copper.

When the project is finished, the only houses without fiber will be the ones with non-permanent residency far beyond any other. Filan explained this would be something like a house only occupied two or three weeks per year.