Northwestern Indiana Telephone Co. (NITCO) and the Town of Chesterton, Indiana announced this week that the new fiber optic communications and data network is now open for business! The Town has completed primary construction of the advanced technology 15.5 -mile high speed fiber optic broadband network with additional laterals, fiber ring redundancy and final testing to be completed later in the year. The Chesterton Fiber Optic Network (CFON) is now active and NITCO has signed 44 new businesses as founding customers of the community network. In 2017 the Town signed a 25 year operating agreement with NITCO to manage and operate the Towns fiber network. The operating agreement allows local businesses to purchase NITCO services such as Voice, Internet, TV, and Long Distance using the Town owned network. Over 300 businesses in the Town are within reach of the gigabit capable fiber network.
NITCO shares the vision with the Town to improve the speed, efficiency, and reliability of Chesterton’s communications infrastructure. CFON will create economic development leading to job creation and growth as well as contributing to the quality of life in the Town. The backbone of CFON includes two-144 strand single mode fiber optic loops which includes the business areas of the Town’s TIF District. Chesterton’s network is impressive in that it is a hybrid of both Lit and dark fibers giving the Town flexibility in working with NITCO as operator and providing services to the business community that previously were unavailable.
“The Town is very proud of the new Chesterton Fiber Network.” said Chesterton Redevelopment Commission Chair Jeff Trout. “The opportunities for local businesses and the economic development potential created with this advanced technology fiber has raised the bar. Chesterton now ranks as the best place for business to locate in northwest Indiana! We have the quality of life and now the infrastructure to keep local business and attract new business.”
NITCO President Tom Long was in agreement: “No matter how great our accomplishments have been in the past, you can never rest on your laurels,” Long said. “A community has to continually reinvent itself as time marches on, and Chesterton has done just that. Think of high-speed internet as the electricity of the 21st century. Just as electricity drove economic development in the 20th century, so too does high-speed internet today.” Mr. Long added “Nitco is from the Region. We are local. All of our employees and customers are in Northwest Indiana. We have deep roots here in NWI giving us a more responsive connection to the communities we serve. For 80 years NITCO has worked with municipal, business and residential customers to provide the best in telecommunications services and that commitment will continue in Chesterton thanks to its new fiber network!”
NITCO will begin offering services to business, education, commercial and medical customers immediately.
Photo Courtesy of ValpoLife: From Left to Right , John Nekus, Telecom Consultant for the Fiber Project, Jeff Trout, Chair of the Chesterton RDC, Tom Long President of NITCO, Jim Ton, Town Councilman.
