KANSAS CITY, MO — Mississippi-based Monroe County Electric Power Association (EPA) has selected Conexon to help it deliver comprehensive broadband management services including network design and engineering, construction management, and customer support for the association's fiber-to-the-home network.

Monroe County EPA will begin construction on the network by 4Q 2020, with the first customers expected to be connected by early 2021. The four-year build-out will span 1,500 miles of fiber, serve 100% of the power association's 10,800 members and is anticipated to cost in the range of $29 million.

"Monroe County EPA board of director member Tom Crook once told me about his grandfather's role in establishing Monroe County EPA, which was the first REA (now RUS) electric co-op in the country," Conexon Partner Jonathan Chambers said. "There's a wonderful continuity with the board's decision to build a fiber-optic network. Monroe County EPA has sustained the community with electricity for over eighty years. It will now bring that same commitment to service and provide both electricity and broadband to the community for the next 80 years.

Monroe County EPA has formed a broadband subsidiary M-Pulse Fiber, through which members will have access to a state-of-the-art network that will deliver symmetrical gigabit internet capabilities – among the fastest and robust in the nation. The all-fiber network will also enable enhancements and smart grid capabilities to the electrical infrastructure such as improved power outage response times, better load balancing, and more efficient electricity delivery.