In 1998, KAMO Power and its 17 distribution cooperative members faced a daunting problem: an aging radio-based communications infrastructure connecting nearly 300 substations and 30 office buildings required a complete replacement to meet exponential data growth to operate a 21st century power grid. The optimum solution was to construct fiber on the approximately 3,000 miles of high voltage transmission line that KAMO operated. But the cost of constructing such a system seemed out of reach.
Following months of consideration, the KAMO Board of Trustees created K-Powernet, LLC. This subsidiary would market excess capacity in the fiber optic network that would contribute to the overall cost of the network and bring additional benefits to rural residents in Oklahoma and Missouri. Today, this network serves the needs of many schools, health care providers and cellular networks throughout the service area.
The immense bandwidth of the network enabled KAMO to also provide private cloud services for its members including hosted servers, backup services and layers of Internet security service. These services enable distribution cooperatives to utilize state of the art technology at a lower cost.
But the real growth of the network and largest benefit to rural residents in Oklahoma and Missouri has come through K-Powernet’s ability to connect its member cooperatives’ fiber-to-the-home networks to the global Internet. With connections to major carrier hubs in Kansas City, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City, K-Powernet completes a vital link in a network being built to tens of thousands of homes and businesses by member cooperatives.
Looking forward, KAMO will continue to invest in K-Powernet ensuring that rural residents will not be left behind in the Internet age. We continue to make major investments in this network year after year to increase capacity, reliability and resilience for future generations.