Southwestern Oklahoma will get improved fiber optics under a loan announced this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Southern Plains Cable LLC.
The company is receiving a $15.3 million loan to build a fiber-optic broadband network serving a 55-square mile area that includes the communities of Anadarko, Verden and Chickasha.
Southern Plains Cable was formed in the early 1980s and operates in Cement, Cyril, Elgin, Fletcher, Medicine Park, Rush Springs and Sterling. The company chairman is Douglas J. Hilliary and Dustin J. Hilliary is President.
Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Roger Glendenning announced the Oklahoma loan as well as one in rural portions of Illinois. The two combined loans total $19.3 million.
“These loans will help bring high-speed internet service to rural communities in downstate Illinois and south-central Oklahoma,” said Glendenning. “Many rural areas still lack access to the type of reliable, affordable broadband service that can offer better access to jobs, educational, health care and business services.”
Both loans are being provided through USDA’s Telecommunications Programs of the Rural Utilities Service. Telecommunications Programs funds equipment and infrastructure to deliver broadband and distance learning and telemedicine services to rural areas.