Members of the Blue Valley Technologies (BVT) management team met with Frankfort City Council at their regular meeting Monday night. Chief Executive Officer, Candace Wright, told members of the Council how much BVT appreciated partnering with the city to bring technological services to the community. She discussed the current infrastructure of fiber to the node, which is a fiber optics network from BVT to a central point in Frankfort. At the node, coaxial cable meets up with the fiber and is then attached to the homes. She explained that corner institutions such as the school, nursing home, and medical clinic have a direct fiber connection.

“We know in order to ‘future-proof’ the communities we serve, we need to eventually get fiber-to-the-home everywhere, which we intend to do,” said Wright. She added an explanation of why that can’t happen overnight. “We must be diligent about looking at all funding opportunities in order to get here responsibly and keep costs affordable for our customers.” Currently, funding opportunities are focused on communities deemed unserved, or underserved. Frankfort does not fit the threshold of either, given the broadband capacity it currently has.

Wright went on to explain, “The utilization of our broadband pipe in Frankfort is only at approximately 30 percent of its capacity during the day and about 55 percent during the evening hours.” She emphasized that this means there is ample room for growth of new residential and business subscribers. She added, “The current network will be sustainable for many years yet to come.”

Marketing and Community Relations Director, Angie Armstrong brought up, “We average four trouble tickets from Frankfort each month; three of which are typically due to customer equipment and dated WiFi routers.” She briefly described an upcoming educational campaign the company plans to launch to help customers better understand equipment requirements and options available to them.

Armstrong also reminded the council they are a Smart Rural Community designee and explained what that means. “Many communities across the country use this designation as a means to attract remote workers.” She added, “BVT has plans to meet with Marshall County Partnership for Growth in hopes of formulating a plan for communities to take advantage of this nationally acclaimed certification.”

The company welcomes any customer questions, suggestions, or input from community members with a variety of ways to contact the office. Customers can always call, chat via the website, or email. BVT is also currently working to launch an app by midsummer.