Time sensitive details for customers who want fiber Internet from FMTC

For Release, Friday, March 29

In early March FMTC announced they are bringing fiber Internet to residents in the communities of Red Oak, Clarinda, Bedford, and Corning. Phase 1 construction, which covers roughly half of Clarinda and Red Oak, starts in May. Phases 2 & 3 are slated to occur in ’25 & ’26.

According to Kevin Cabbage, CEO of FMTC, the company has heard a few consistent questions since the announcement, so they wanted answer those and stress the urgency for customers to act now and get signed up in all phase areas.

“We need some help from customers, so we can take full advantage of the ’24 construction season to get more people connected to fiber. The more people that are signed up by May 15, the more people we can get connected to fiber this year,” said Cabbage. “As an enticement to sign up we have a construction special we think customers will appreciate. All the details are on the city fiber page on our website, but I’ll say this – customers can get a lot more Internet speed for less money with the special.”

Doug Pals, FMTC’s Chief Experience Officer continued, “Starting May 1, we are building the fiber distribution network in the ’24 construction zones, however we are only bringing fiber drops to customers who sign up for service. We aren’t bringing a drop to a home that has not said they want our fiber. The fiber drop is free when the customer signs up, and that is why getting signed up is so important. With construction starting in May, we want to have a good idea who wants service, so we can bring the fiber drop to your house when the construction crews are in your neighborhood.”

Cabbage said, “We’ve gotten questions about United Fiber, so we thought we’d better address the topic as well. Since FMTC is bringing Fiber to the four communities, United Fiber indicated they were no longer planning to build, so if a customer wants fiber Internet – they should sign up with FMTC.”

Pals invited customers in all four communities to go to www.myfmtc.com/city-fiber to learn more about the ‘City Fiber’ project, see pricing and sign-up for service.

FMTC plans to offer Internet and voice services via their fiber network. Project details, answers to common questions and construction special pricing, as well as build maps for phases 1, 2 and 3, can be found on the City Fiber page of the company’s website.

FMTC announces city fiber construction plans for Clarinda, Red Oak, Bedford and Corning

March 3, 2024 media release

City residents in the communities of Red Oak, Clarinda, Bedford, and Corning will be getting FMTC of Stanton’s Fiber Internet according to Kevin Cabbage, FMTC’s CEO.  

Phase 1 construction will start in May 2024 in two zones: one in Red Oak and one in Clarinda, each covering approximately half of each community’s population. There are maps showing the build areas on FMTC’s website and accompanying this story.

FMTC said their 2024 construction plans were based on the ability to get the most customers connected as quickly as possible, due to the existing fiber and other facilities they already have in Red Oak and Clarinda. The company expects to start customer installations in the phase 1 areas in summer and continue into late fall.

Phases 2 and 3 will continue in 2025 and 2026 with all areas slated to be completed by the end of 2026; specific zones that will be built in phase 2 & 3 will be announced in late 2024.

Doug Pals, FMTC Chief Experience Officer invited customers in all four communities to go to www.myfmtc.com/city-fiber to learn more about the ‘City Fiber’ project, see pricing and sign-up for service.

“The first action customers can take right now is to go to our website for details about the City Fiber project and get signed up. There are menus and links on our homepage to take you to project details and the sign-up page; we invite all residents in the four communities to go there to get started,” said Pals. “We want to serve everyone, and the first step toward that is to see who wants our service.”

Cabbage said, “We intend to build in all areas of all four communities. To do that well, we want to see who is interested in our services and where they are located. Understanding that helps us refine constructions plans for phases in 2025 and 2026. We will announce phase 2 build plans in late ’24.”

Cabbage continued, “It has been in our company vision to bring fiber to residential customers in these communities because we have invested significantly in fiber to serve the businesses in these communities, and we serve customers in much of the adjacent rural areas. Since building a fiber network is so expensive, we expected to use state or federal grants or low-cost loan programs to assist with the construction. Since those funding options are not available for use in these communities, our board decided to use more traditional funding methods to make this significant investment to serve the customers in these communities.”

FMTC plans to offer Internet and voice services via their fiber network. Products and pricing, as well as build maps, can be found on the City Fiber page of the company’s website.

FMTC of Stanton has served southwest Iowa with communications since 1901, initially with phone, and starting in 1994, with Internet. They currently serve customers in the cities and rural areas of Stanton, Villisca, New Market, Nodaway, and Bethesda. Recently they completed two very large USDA ReConnect projects which brought Fiber Internet to more than 800 unserved customers in rural Red Oak, rural Clarinda, rural Bedford, and rural Gravity. They currently serve the business customers in Red Oak, Clarinda, Bedford, Gravity and Corning with Internet and voice services.