Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Five more communities to get service
ROSALIA - Port of Whitman County and Ziply Fiber delivers fiber optic Internet to about 300 homes and businesses starting today.
"Rosalia's Internet connectivity (is) on par with major cities across the country," said Dan Miller, Ziply Fiber senior vice president.
Rosalia is the first of five Whitman County communities being connected to the Internet with high speed service. Garfield, Oakesdale, Palouse, and Tekoa are scheduled to join the Ziply Fiber network by the end of the year.
"Residents and businesses in our Whitman County communities will benefit greatly from the significant upgrade that fiber Internet provides when making video calls, uploading and downloading content, streaming entertainment, and more," said Kara Riebold, Port of Whitman chief operating officer.
The port sought an open-access model to promote competitive services for rural residents, according to Riebold. The Community Economic Revitalization Board of Washington supports the Rural Broadband Program by awarding grants to open the door for partnership opportunities with providers such as Ziply Fiber.
"Ziply Fiber is proud to be in Rosalia helping to serve a vital need for this community," said Harold Zeitz, CEO of Ziply Fiber. "The port, county and town have been fantastic partners during the entire build-out process and have acted quickly to assist us in bringing reliable fiber Internet to the county."
Ziply Fiber is headquartered in Kirkland and has offices in Everett, Beaverton, Ore., and Hayden, Idaho. Most of Ziply Fiber's executive team consists of former executives from AT&T, CenturyLink, and Wave Broadband.
Bill Stevenson is the former editor of the Whitman County Gazette, Colfax Daily Bulletin and Franklin Connection. He has nearly 30 years of journalism experience covering news in Eastern Washington.
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