Powerline Press
NEWSLETTER
A Supplement of Oklahoma Living Published by Lake Region Electric Cooperative for its members.
December 2019 March 2023
10,000 ACTIVE SUBSCRIBERS Taking High Speed Fiber Internet Where No One Else Will Lake Region Technology & Communications (LRTC), subsidiary of Lake Region Electric Cooperative, announced that it had completed installations of its 10,000th subscriber. Kelsey and Jared Applegate of the Peggs area received a 65-inch Smart TV prize for streaming video on their new Lake Region fiber connection. Left to right: Jared and Kelsey Applegate and Larry Mattes, LREC Communications Specialist
LRTC connected its first customer in 2012 in Hulbert and has since made internet and phone service available to almost all Lake Region Electric members across its service territory.
“Most modern families need the capability to connect five or six devices at once,” said Larry Mattes, Lake Region Communications Specialist. “In this day and age, our members have come to expect that they can operate all their devices seamlessly at a great speed, and local customer support with Lake Region fiber.” An electric company providing fiber internet services may seem outlandish to some. How can a company that delivers electricity offer internet and home phone service when these services do not even use the same equipment? Having the proper infrastructure is one of the biggest obstacles utilities face when bringing service to a new area. Infrastructure includes the poles,
easements, and other equipment needed to get service from point A to point B. One benefit for Lake Region to become an internet provider was that LREC already had the poles necessary to hang fiber optic wire on. LREC started building internet in rural areas where other providers won’t provide service. “We have LREC for electric and were thrilled to see crews working on our lines, so we signed up shortly after seeing crews roughly a year ago. This is the first time we have had internet out here. We had a cellular hot spot during the COVID shutdown provided by our kids’ school. However, it never worked well; all his videos were glitchy,” said Kelsey Applegate. Kelsey and Jared Applegate and their family were
10,000th Subscriber Continues