Altus agrees to add wireless broadband
ALTUS -- City administrators have a verbal agreement
with a Tulsa-based public trust and a Cherokee Nation
company to purchase a wireless broadband system
that would offer residents telephone, television,
and Internet service, Altus City Administrator Mike
Nettles said Tuesday.
The licensed microwave broadband system would be
owned and operated by the city of Altus and in place
this summer if financial details can be finalized
and approved with Community Communications Authority,
a public trust that has partnered with Cherokee
ConneX to bring wireless broadband service to rural
Oklahoma.
"This would make us a wireless hub in southwest
Oklahoma," Nettles said. "We would be
able to offer as good, if not better, services to
our customers for less. If they choose, they could
get telephone, Internet, and television service
through the city all in one shot, instead of going
through different companies.
"The benefits are numerous."
Similar systems are presently being installed in
Vinita and Ardmore.
Nettles expects the system to cost between $8 million
and $10 million, but he thinks the expense would
be worth it when considering the benefits.
The city-owned service would compete with other
local, regional, and national companies that offer
similar wireless services, Nettles said. Customers
could subscribe to one service such as wireless
Internet, or a bundle package.
Nettles is convinced the city's prices will be
highly competitive.
The entire system would also be secure. Wireless
Internet subscribers, for example, would be required
to log in with an access code. They would, in turn,
be able to access the Internet from anywhere beneath
the city's wireless umbrella.
