This article was written by Sharon Vermeer for the Vibrant Magazine from Pluim Publishing.
Ryan Boone, CEO of Premier Communications, foresees significant growth opportunities in Orange City. “Orange City is a great community with good values,” he smiled. “That’s the kind of thing we look for when we want to come into a community,” said Scott Te Stoete, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. “Can we partner with them? Can we help them make a difference? We bought Media Com cable systems in 2007. As we looked at our future build-out plan or where we wanted to invest in fiber, we felt like ORange CIty would be experiencing a lot of growth and would continue to be a great partner/ That’s why we decided to spend $7.5-8 million to go all fiber in Orange City.” “Our goal is to be problem-solvers, not just problem identifiers. We say to communities, what is it you want to do? Let us help you achieve your goals.”
Last spring, Premier started Phase One of the project by contacting 1,000 homeowners and businesses to see if they would allow Premier to bring fiber to their property. Over 80 percent of the people contacted permitted them to proceed. Boone notes that this is an extremely high percentage based on their experience. “The neat thing about dedicated fiber to each location is that the future internet speeds are limitless!” he explained. “With the current co-ax network, you can only get so much speed. Premier has noticed that when people think of moving into communities like Orange City, they ask about three things, and one includes internet speed and reliability. Having faster internet speed allows the city to sell to future businesses and offer employment opportunities. We are thrilled to be a part of those recruitment efforts.”
The project has been moving quickly to get fiber in the ground. Premier realizes that working around construction can irritate city residents, so the company has been working fast and furious in one place, then leaving the area quickly. The project is on schedule despite the 10′ of rain the city received. Boone noted that they have had to backfill soil that settled in some areas because of the rain. This fall, Premier will splice the fiber already put in place, with the goal of testing in January and the new service possibly available to customers by February.
“We have a local on-site project manager for Orange City: Kevin Mulder,” Boone smiled. “He is there every day overseeing the construction process and talking to residents. Over and over, he says that working with Orange City Utilities has just been fantastic. We serve about 20 communities, and that’s not always the case! When it is, the project goes faster and more smoothly, allowing us to have better quality. Kevin and the city deserve a lot of credit for working together to make this a successful project thus far!”
“When we upgrade a community, we really do think of it as a partnership long term,” Boon said, “for instance, the Canals, a new development with updates from Premier. Kevin worked with the developer and has been putting a network in now as construction is going on. This not only saves us money but allows us to prepare for future customers. those customers will benefit from having internet already there when they move in. We are happy to spend money upfront, before customers are even there because it will be one less thing people have to think about when they move in.”
“Our brand-new fiber network will increase the reliability and scale-ability of Orange City’s internet. We have doneeveryting we can to reduce customer downtime, and our customer services staff and technicians serve Orange City daily. We know who our customers are, and many of our technicians know people by name and where they live.”
Phase Two of the project will begin next year, with calls to residents and businesses. Premier hopes to finish Orange City and run both networks over the next 18 months until everyone is switched over. “We don’t make this investment unless we plan on being here a while,” Boone nodded. “Our company started in 1906, and we plan on being here for another 100 years!”
