Indiana telco picks Calix as partner in 'Fiber Forward' build

Sounthern Indiana telco Smithville Telephone Company has signed a deal with Calix (NYSE: CALX) to bring fiber to its 34,000 homes and business users, continuing a string of wins for the Petaluma, Calif.-based provider of broadband communications access systems and software.

Smithville's "Fiber Forward" initiative, one of the largest of its kind in the country, is a $128 million project composed of a $90 million dollar Rural Utilities Service loan complemented by a $38 million Broadband Stimulus award funded through the Broadband Initiative Program that's targeted for completion in 2013. Smithville is Indiana's largest independent operating company. It already has hooked up several thousand homes and businesses and is delivering advanced IPTV, ultra-high-speed data services, and voice services delivered via gigabit passive optical networking (GPON) and Active Ethernet (AE) technologies across the Calix Unified Access Infrastructure. All customers will have access to the standards-based fiber access network engineered to deliver between 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps.

"As we considered the increasing demand for high-bandwidth broadband services as well as the economic development needs of the communities in our service areas, moving 'Fiber Forward' was the right thing to do," said Darby McCarty, CEO of Smithville. "Not only can we use this network to deliver world-class information, communication, and entertainment services to our residential and business subscribers, but we can also dramatically reduce our long-term operational costs--which is critical as we adapt our business model to reflect both a changing regulatory environment and increasing competition."

Smithville is Indiana's largest independent operating companies and the project is one of the largest of its kind in the country. The company said emerging consumer demands, heightening competition, and a desire to provide subscribers with an infrastructure that can support advanced broadband services while lowering ongoing operational costs are driving the project. The access equipment portion of this project is being built with the Calix Unified Access portfolio, including the Calix C7 Multiservice Access Platform, the E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform, the 700GX/700GE ONT portfolio, and Calix Management System. Calix Compatible partners like Cisco are also providing key components of the overall solution, delivering IPTV middleware and set-top boxes.

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