The Divide: How United Fiber and Calix are connecting communities in rural MissouriThe Divide: How United Fiber and Calix are connecting communities in rural Missouri

This episode features Matt Collins, chief commercial operations officer at Calix, and Darren Farnan, general manager of fiber operations at United Fiber, a broadband provider in rural northwest Missouri and a subsidiary of United Electric Cooperative.

United Electric Cooperative first started building out its fiber network over a decade ago, with the help of a $21 million grant from the American Recovery Act (ARA) back in 2010, and it started connecting commercial customers in 2013. Since then, the network has grown to reach more than 50 communities and 33,000 subscribers, with 800 to 1,000 new subscribers being activated each month, according to United Fiber's Farnan.

We discuss what broadband access was like in that region of Missouri when United Electric decided to build out a fiber network, and the benefits that connectivity has brought to the local communities since then. We also discuss the role that Calix's services are playing in United Fiber's overall success in the rural communities it serves, how the companies are each preparing to engage with the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program – plus their note of caution for state broadband offices – and more.

Here are some topics we cover:

Related:The Divide: Calix CEO Michael Weening on enabling the broadband disruptors

For a lightly edited transcript, click the caption button on the player above.