Connecting Rural Kentucky, Community Telecom Services Leverages ADTRAN

ADTRAN®, Inc., a provider of next-generation multi-gigabit fiber and fiber extension broadband access solutions, has announced Community Telecom Services (CTS) selected ADTRAN’s Total Access 5000 (TA5000) fiber access platform to quickly and cost-effectively deploy high-quality fiber broadband services to previously underserved communities in rural Kentucky.

ADTRAN is making it easier for CTS to improve its network and quality of service to better support residential and business subscribers’ remote work and education needs. CTS is now able to connect hundreds of students caught on the wrong side of the digital divide without access to broadband, empowering them to participate as equals in the remote learning environment.

CTS is a public utility owned by the city of Monticello and Wayne County. It serves 3,300 subscribers located near the edge of the Appalachian Mountains. The terrain and rural population made fiber rollouts expensive to deploy and maintain, and as a result many families in the region were being left behind due to their inability to access high-speed internet.

In early 2020, COVID underscored the demand for reliable internet access to support remote workers and learners, local healthcare facilities and businesses. CTS selected ADTRAN’s TA5000 platform to seamlessly replace legacy Huawei network equipment. The service provider is leveraging ADTRAN’s GPON technology to meet community needs now, and it has the ability to easily introduce XGS-PON stand alone or via ADTRAN’s Combo PON on the same platform when it needs to increase bandwidth further.

“We needed to create a strong telecom foundation that would quickly and cost-effectively bring fiber-based services to the people of Monticello and Wayne County. ADTRAN’s TA5000 platform is the right solution for us because it meets our quality standards and it will also grow with us,” said Calvin McFarland, General Manager for Community Telecom Services. “Unlike other vendors, ADTRAN was able to quickly deliver a high-quality solution at the right price point. These solutions will reduce customer issues, network downtime and maintenance costs which means our subscribers will realize improved services from day one.”

Not only is CTS able to connect remote workers and learners, but it is able to support more local manufacturing and community resources, too. For example, Monticello is known as the houseboat capital of the world due to the large number of houseboat manufacturers in the area.

CTS’ reliable wireless internet options will help support advanced manufacturing initiatives like Industrial IoT to help progress efficiency and production capabilities. Additionally, the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environment has a cooperative extension site in Wayne County, and CTS provides high-speed internet to the facility that offers educational programs for the community.

“Our work with CTS is a great example of how ADTRAN helps any type of service provider build their best network,” said Brian Efimetz, Regional Vice President of Service Provider Sales at ADTRAN. “We help these service providers select the right technology for their communities’ needs and help with planning and implementation as well as to ensure deployments go smoothly and management remains easy. As a result, our customers can connect their subscribers to new economic, educational and healthcare opportunities and create a better quality of life.”

The ADTRAN Total Access 5000 platform is the highest density 10G PON solution in the U.S. market and serves as the foundation for the industry’s most comprehensive RDOF portfolio.