Conexon Connect, the ISP arm of fiber broadband builder Conexon, said it has completed its tenth fiber broadband deployment in four years in collaboration with the Sac Osage Electric Cooperative. The network, Conexon’s second deployment in Missouri, will bring affordable fiber broadband for the first time to the cooperative’s 9,000 mostly rural members.
The 2,100-mile fiber network, located 150 miles from Conexon's Kansas City headquarters, was finished in less than three years, and dramatically improves broadband availability across nine rural Missouri counties.
"The demonstration of what we can achieve together through hard work and partnership keeps us moving forward in our commitment to advancing connectivity across rural America," Conexon Co-CEO Randy Klindt said of the company’s latest deployment.
Conexon was initially known for rural fiber-optic network design and construction, but launched its own last mile public facing retail ISP, Conexon Connect, in 2021.
It now directly provides last mile access via networks across Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri, and has seen its business boom thanks to widespread nationwide partnerships with U.S. cooperatives and federal grants.
Conexon’s tenth network build comes on the heels of recent completed builds in partnership with Florida's Tri-County Electric Cooperative and Georgia's Irwin Electric Membership Cooperation (EMC). Conexon says that Connect has more than 20 projects ongoing across seven states, and is on track to deliver multi-gigabit Internet access to more than 500,000 rural homes and businesses upon completion.
Its partnership with Sac Osage Electric Cooperative, announced back in 2021, came at the same time as a partnership with Osage Valley Electric Cooperative, which collectively expanded fiber access to 24,000 homes and businesses spanning 17 counties in Missouri.
The two networks cost an estimated $130 million to construct, heavily aided by Conexon’s significant share of FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction grant money.
While prices vary depending on the market, Conexon Connect offers locals three tiers of service: symmetrical 100 megabit per second (Mbps) tier; symmetrical gig speed service; and a symmetrical 2.5 Gbps tier.
"Conexon Connect sees fiber internet service the same way as we do electricity — delivering the most reliable service at the lowest possible cost," Aaron Ash, General Manager of Sac Osage Electric Cooperative, said of the completed project.
