COLUMBIA, MO -- Governor Nixon today announced the creation of 65 Mid-Missouri jobs.
Columbia’s Socket Telecom is getting $23.7 million in federal stimulus money to expand services to rural areas in Eastern Boone and Western Callaway Counties.
Columbia’s Socket Telecom is using $17 million in grants and another $7 million in loans to build a new fiber optic network through Governor Nixon’s Missouri Broadband Now initiative. Nixon wants to increase access to high-speed internet in every corner of Missouri. The Socket project will directly connect the internet provider to homes in rural areas near Millersburg and Fulton.
Nixon said, “We will help small business expand their markets, connect doctors and patients through telemedicine and bring greater education opportunities to students.”
The Socket project will be able to provide high-speed internet service to 2,866 rural homes. About half of those homes are near Fulton.
Socket administrators did some customer research. They found out that hundreds of people in rural Callaway County want their Triple Play Service which includes High Definition Television, Telephone and High Speed Internet.
Socket co-owner Carson Coffman said, “We did a lot of surveying early on in this process. We went to the local gas station in Millersburg. We went to the Callaway County fairs and we talked to people. We had an overwhelming response from people saying we want this. We want these kinds of services from a local company.”
Socket is 1 of 3 Missouri companies to get federal stimulus money to expand broadband access to schools, businesses and health care providers in rural parts of central, southeast and southwest Missouri.
Socket officials say their broadband project should be completed within the next 3 years.
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