Storey County celebrates groundbreaking of new fiber optic cable

County commissioners, local officials, and IT employees all gathered in Virginia City on Oct. 16 to celebrate the groundbreaking of new fiber broadband cables being installed throughout Storey County.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held outside next to the new fiber box, marking the beginning of the project that consists of installing 18 miles of new fiber cable for 650 households.

“Storey County has always embraced technology and forward-thinking. Helping bring fiber internet to every resident and business that wants it is a momentous occasion for Storey County and the entire team responsible for making this happen,” said Storey County Commissioner Jay Carmona.

Storey County representatives were joined by Google, Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc., and CC Communications to commemorate the launch. 

“This initiative is at the heart of Google's mission to nurture more connected and innovative communities across the nation,” said Kate Franko, Google's regional head of data center public affairs. “High speed internet is not a luxury anymore, it’s a necessity to bringing any area to the modern economy and making sure that we have equal opportunity for all. We’re really excited for the residents of Storey County and local businesses to have this opportunity as well.”

Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc., (RISI) is a nonprofit consulting firm that provides broadband technical aid and support to US states looking to expand and improve their broadband infrastructure.

“This project epitomizes why we do this work; the broadband built in Virginia City is going to serve everyone, is locally owned and operated, and will unlock new quality of life and economic growth opportunities for residents and businesses alike,” said Alex Kelley, director of broadband consulting at RISI.

“We try and help bring internet to rural places across the country; it is rare, however, that we experience such strong local leadership paired with internet service providers like CC Coms with the deep expertise to actually bring the internet out to these places. If you look around, you’ll see that this isn’t the easiest place to build. So, to see it all come together with Google’s support is wonderful and we’re thrilled to be here,” Kelley added.

Churchill County Communications (aka CC Communications) is Storey County’s telecommunications provider.

“We were established in 1889; CC Com is the only county-owned company in the nation,” said CC Communications Sales Engineer Matt Ryan before the ceremony. “We’re establishing a fiber ring in the state that’s pretty substantial… it’s a 400 gigabyte backbone. Simply put, we’re punching above our weight,” he added.

Its competitors are Spectrum, AT&T, Frontier. But with CC Com, “We’re building Nevada strong, keeping the dollars here,” said Ryan. He emphasized that this will benefit the entire region by bringing in the types of businesses that couldn’t be here before, mainly those that rely on quality broadband data to do their work.

“Google is a prime example of when fiber structure comes in, what starts landing in your backyard,” Ryan added.

“This sprung forth from the community for the community and once we build a fiber network we build to it. The stage is set for growing Nevada over the next 10-15 years.”

CC Communications’ goal is to reach the end user with the new fiber network and then expand coverage. “We’re leveraging growth and bringing innovation.

“Where you spend your dollars matters and this benefits the entire state. We say we’ve been turning desert sand into glass for more than 100 years. We pride ourselves on our can-do attitude… when we see a problem, we don’t wait for someone else to fix it. We create the solution,” Ryan added.

The first phase of the project will cover installing 18 miles of fiber in Virginia City and Gold Hill, which will hopefully be done in the spring weather permitting. Phase 2 will go into the Virginia City Highlands, “lighting up to 850-plus homes,” Carmona said. The entire project includes upgrading the telecommunications equipment on 53 miles of roads.

“This is a fantastic project. It’s been three years in the making and we couldn’t have done it without Google, RISI, and CC Communications,” Carmona added.  

He said that the best part is that CC Com will hook up residents to the new fiber broadband as they pass by and install it, so people will quickly start noticing a difference in their internet connections before the project is completed.

Storey County Manager Austin Osbourne lives four houses down from the newly installed fiber box. “I will be their first customer, I’ve been looking forward to this project for a long time,” he said.