Huntsville-based Adtran making 10 gigabit broadband waves in Tennessee

Huntsville’s Adtran, Inc., the leader in providing next-generation multi-gigabit fiber access and fiber extension solutions globally, is making waves in the state next door – fiber broadband waves, that is – by providing multiple communities within Tennessee’s Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative with an ultrafast 10-gigabit fiber access platform with combo PON technology.

The Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative is the largest telecom co-op in Tennessee. The steady increase in broadband demand required the company to upgrade its existing 1G infrastructure to support a higher-capacity speed tier, and, according to Jonathan West, the co-op’s general manager and CEO, Adtran’s 10G PON (Passive Optical Network) solution was the best fit.

“In 2021, we celebrated 70 years in service, connected our 30,000^th customer and completed our 100% fiber network, positioning us to meet our customers’ needs for generations to come,” West said. “Adtran has been a big part of that success … a reliable partner that we can trust to help us build the right network at the right time.

“We deployed GPON first, but it has limited upstream speeds which are critical to supporting streaming services, cloud computing and more,” he added. “Adtran eliminated those limitations with its XGS-PON solutions.”

The Adtran multigigabit fiber network gives residents and local businesses new incentives for attracting new industries and economic development to the region. Several counties in the co-op are benefiting from Adtran’s digital backbone as it enables the expansion of job searches for remote workers and residents and remotely connects veterans to healthcare options instead of their having to drive long distances to a VA hospital.

Many businesses are surprised to learn that the quality of Twin Lakes’ broadband is better than many large metropolitan areas, inspiring many small businesses in Tennessee to move their homes to rural lake areas and run their business remotely.

“It is rewarding to see the positive community impact our customers are making with their multi-gigabit networks,” said Craig Stein, vice president, Americas & head of Global Business Development for Adtran. “Twin Lakes has been using Adtran broadband solutions since 2007, when it first started building its fiber network.

“Today the network is literally changing the way local businesses operate,” he continued. “Adtran Combo PON provides a no-compromise migration path to 10G PON, affording any type of service provider to easily provide competitive broadband services and connect their communities to new opportunities.”

The capability enables Twin Lakes to upgrade network infrastructure with cards that seamlessly support new multi-gigabit XGS-PON services without disrupting existing GPON customers.