High-speed fiber-optic internet is finally making its way to a remote northeast Nevada community — brought by a company that delivered telegraph service to the area in 1889 and telephone seven years later.
CC Communications started the project July 28 to supply broadband to Spring Creek.
“We know all of the people we’ve talked to are excited,” Jay Lingenfelter, company operations supervisor, said.
Elko County Commission Chairman Jon Karr called internet service a necessity.
“We’ve all struggled with extremely slow and unreliable internet,” he said. “Now internet is kind of like natural gas, electricity. It’s more of a utility now.”
CC Communications was Churchill County Telephone when it entered the cellular market in 1990.
Five years later, it adapted for internet and changed its name.
It is teaming for the Spring Creek project with NNE Construction of Elko to install large, orange conduit carrying fiber-optic service to four Spring Creek Association subdivisions and Pleasant Valley Estates southeast of Elko.
The company will partner with Elko County to apply for a fixed broadband service grant that would pay CC Communications about $7 million, or 40% of the $18 million project cost.
The rest of the funding will be shouldered by the broadband provider.
