Cookson Hills Connect begins Phase 2 of fiber optics plan

Few remember a time when electricity was more of a luxury than an expectation.

Juli Orme remembers — or more precisely, her grandparents knew of — a time when electricity was an exciting wonderment that opened up a whole new world for its recipients.

“You just don’t hear of those people very often anymore,” says Orme, general manager for Cookson Hills Electric Cooperative. “People today don’t really remember, or they don’t know about it. They’ve always had electricity.

“But at Cookson Hills Electric, we’ve been trying to figure out how to keep that story alive so we don’t forget,” Orme says.

That’s why the cooperative has embarked on a new initiative with the potential to have as much impact now as the introduction of electricity did for rural Oklahomans back in 1948.

And the three-year project to build a stateof- the-art fiber-to-thehome network to deliver lightning-fast symmetrical broadband internet service is in high gear more than a year into the campaign.

Juli Orme

“As we look back on 2022, we are proud of the many ways our rural communities have grown and changed because of our cooperative’s continued commitment to delivering reliable and affordable high-speed internet and telephone services for homes and businesses,” Orme says.

“Cookson Hills Connect is now serving over 3,400 homes and businesses throughout our service territory in portions of Sequoyah and Haskell counties. All of this in just one year.

“It serves as a perfect reminder of the important role this project plays in bridging the technology gap that rural Oklahomans face each day,” Orme says of the positive feedback the cooperative has received from its members.

Cookson Hills Connect has built more than 1,300 miles of fiber line, which is almost half of the total miles it will build, with service to about a quarter of its almost 15,000 members. The cooperative has installed seven fiber huts that light the fiber for the communities it serves, and has added eight full-time broadband employees to its workforce.

“Our sole reason for offering telephone and high-speed internet services through Cookson Hills Connect is to meet the needs of our members,” Orme says. “We are working as quickly as possible to reach all our members with telephone and world-class fiber internet to provide faster, more reliable and more affordable options to stay connected online.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience as we continue our broadband journey, and look forward to connecting thousands more customers in 2023.”

Highlighting the ways fiber transforms daily life, Orme cited a world of possibilities for online learning; efficient working from home; convenient telemedicine; endless streaming, gaming and entertainment options; and face-to-face real-time connections to family and friends.

Phase 1 of Cookson Hills Connect’s project has recently been completed with availability to all members receiving service from Sallisaw, Muldrow, Akins, Nice and Liberty substations.

Phase 2 of the project is now underway, with mainline fiber construction expected to be completed soon, followed by installations.

The cooperative has completed the makeready construction phase for its Stigler substation, which is expected to be complete in the initial areas early this year, with the first installations expected to start in the next few months.

For the Enterprise substation, mainline fiber construction is expected to be completed on three feeders by June, with installations for those feeders projected to begin in July or August.

Mainline construction for the Keota substation is expected to be complete by fall, with installations projected to begin by the end of the year.

Orme says Cookson Hills Electric Cooperative members can find which substation and feeder provide their electricity by looking at their electric bill. The cooperative will be sending an email and a postcard to each member with a notification when fiber installation to their home is available.