LAWTON – In about 45 days, west Lawton residents and businesses will have another option for cable TV and internet service.
The South Dakota-based telecommunications company Clarity Telecom, which does business as Bluepeak, hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a new high-speed, fiber-optic network Wednesday in Lawton. The ceremony took place on a vacant lot at the corner of Northwest 82nd Street and Northwest Cache Road, across from Classic Lawton Chevrolet.
The company has already begun locating underground utility lines and secured permits for that area of Lawton, and construction should begin by next week, said Desi Stoops, vice president of market development.
“This particular section, we’re looking for active homes within 45 days,” he said. “So, about 45 days, folks in this area will have access to service.”
Stoops said building a network that can serve the entire city will take about three years.
“As sections of town come on board, those sections will be available for service,” he said. “And then eventually – within the three years – we’ll have everything.”
The groundbreaking was the latest development in a process that began in December 2021, when the Lawton City Council directed city staff to draw up a cable franchise agreement with Clarity Telecom. The city’s existing franchise agreement with Fidelity Communications was nonexclusive, meaning the city reserved the right to enter into a similar agreement with other telecommunications companies.
Franchise agreements allow private telecommunications and utility companies to use public rights of way to install and maintain support systems for their services. The city receives a franchise fee as part of the agreement.
Bluepeak announced in March that it had received permission to build a fiber-optic network in Lawton, setting the stage for construction to begin this month.
Residential customers of Bluepeak can get up to five gigabits per second of symmetrical bandwidth, and business customers can get up to 10Gbps, the company said in a March press release. The company said customers will have faster speeds, better connectivity and the ability to connect several devices.
Stoops said Wednesday that the Lawton project will cost about $41 million – approximately the same amount that the company has spent on building networks in other Oklahoma communities.
“All across the state, we’ve currently committed about $250 million,” he said. “When it’s all said and done, we’ll be around $400 (million) plus.”