Great Plains Communications Completes Acquisition of Wood River Network

Blair, Nebraska--Great Plains Communications (GPC), a Midwestern telecommunications provider with a growing, privately-owned 13,500+ mile fiber network reaching 13 states, backed by Grain Management, LLC (Grain), has completed its acquisition of the Wood River Network from Fiber Nebraska, a fiber construction company formed by the principals of Complete Underground to build and operate networks in underserved Nebraska communities.

The 10.6-mile network will allow Great Plains Communications to provide fiber-driven services to approximately 500 homes and 60 businesses in Wood River, Nebraska, a town of 1,500 centrally located to Kearney, Grand Island and Hastings, Nebraska.

“Wood River is adjacent to our company’s Kearney and Grand Island fiber, and therefore will be a great addition to our network as a whole,” said Todd Foje, CEO of Great Plains Communications. “We are looking forward to serving Wood River homes and businesses with fiber to the home and fiber to the business services that have previously only been available in larger urban markets.”

The Wood River technology advancements provided by the network include high-speed Internet up to 1 Gbps, streaming video and voice to allow residential customers to work and learn from home, stream entertainment and operate multiple devices simultaneously without lag or buffering. Business services include fully scalable, symmetrical fiber internet speeds, managed Wi-Fi and traditional and cloud-based voice options. The network will also allow Wood River to position itself as a fiber-rich community to attract new businesses and residents.  

Tyler Cretacci, Owner of Fiber Nebraska, LLC. stated, “Wood River is a very friendly and beautiful town. They have a city council that goes above and beyond by not only looking forward but providing for the community as a whole. We loved working with them to build this fiber-to-the-home network and we know the residents of Wood River are in good hands with Great Plains Communications moving forward.”

Additional engineering and construction efforts will commence immediately to connect to the core GPC network. Fiber services are expected to be available to Wood River by the summer of 2022. The acquisition closed on December 31, 2021. Financial terms were not disclosed.