The expansion project launched in Crowder Friday morning with officials present from local, federal and tribal levels. The Oklahoma Broadband Office led the event in conjunction with Canadian Valley Telephone, a local internet service provider.
The project totals $1.7 million, according to OBO, with $1.3 million of that coming from a federal grant administered under OBO. The remaining amount of $430,000 came from matching contributions by Canadian Valley Telephone. The project was awarded last year by the Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board and will connect 426 homes and businesses to broadband internet through fiber optics, according to a release.
OBO Executive Director Mike Sanders said establishing high-speed internet access to towns in rural parts of Oklahoma, like Crowder, provides more opportunities for success for more residents in the state.
“What we’re breaking ground on today in Crowder is more than infrastructure — it’s the groundwork for a future where every Oklahoman, no matter their ZIP code, has a fair shot at success,” Sanders said Friday. “In Crowder and across rural Oklahoma, reliable broadband will open doors to innovation, education and economic growth — empowering communities to shape their own future in a connected world.”
Orlean M. Smith, president and owner of Canadian Valley Telephone Co., said the grant funds and groundbreaking will provide fiber internet across the rural areas it services.
“It is of utmost importance to CVT that residents of rural Oklahoma have the same technological advantages as residents in urban areas,” Smith said. “CVT has served these rural communities since 1927 with telecommunications. It’s exciting to bring the most advanced technology to rural Oklahoma and continue our almost 100-year legacy of providing rural Oklahomans with the telephone, internet and video services they want and need to live, work and play.”
The $1.7 million grant is only one portion of almost $525 million in funding awarded through the Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board, a release states. The total increases to $840 million when considering matching funds provided by internet service providers throughout the state.
Those funds have helped flow over 180 projects, according to OBO, and connect “more than 69,000 homes and businesses” to high-speed internet.
“At least one project is slated to be built in 59 of the state’s 77 counties,” OBO states.
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