Interstate Cablevision dba OmniTel Communications Oakland ...

Interstate Cablevision dba OmniTel Communications

Oakland FTTH Broadband Expansion Project

Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Application

Supporting Letters and Documentation

1 of 14 Control Number: 329457

September 13, 2019

Office of the Chief Information Officer of the State of Iowa Hoover State Office Building, Level B 1305 E. Walnut Street Des Moines, IA 50319 Phone : (515) 281-5503

Dear Chief Information Officer Annette Dunn,

I am writing in support of the Empower Rural Iowa - Broadband Grants Program Application for Interstate

Cablevision, dba OmniTel Communications (OmniTel) to provide improved broadband services by means

of a fiber infrastructure to areas in rural Iowa including, the City of Oakland and rural Oakland, which also

includes portions of Mills and Montgomery Counties.

OmniTel is a well-established communications service provider within the State of Iowa and is known for

its commitment to bringing advanced services to its customers. I am confident in OmniTel’s capabilities of

providing and enhancing broadband service for the unserved areas included in its application. With the

financial assistance of the Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Program, OmniTel will be able to provide

high speed broadband service to the constituents residing in these areas. A fiber broadband network will

provide local businesses and residents with opportunities for distance learning, working from home,

improved e-commerce, tele-health services, and reliable connectivity to ever growing services. All of these

applications, as well as future applications demand better, faster and more reliable broadband. The

implementation of these network buildouts and improvements will allow for economic growth far into

the future.

OmniTel is dedicated to ensuring those residing in their existing service territories have quality access to

advanced broadband and communication services. I am confident they will bring the same level of service

to the City of Oakland as well as rural Oakland and other unserved locations within Mills and Montgomery

Counties.

I urge the Office of CIO to strongly consider OmniTel’s application to assist with the improvement of

broadband services to these areas.

Sincerely

Rep. Todd Prichard,

Iowa House District 52


October 9, 2019 Office of the Chief Information Officer of the State of Iowa Broadband Grants Program – Connect Every Iowan Hoover State Office Building, Level B 1305 E. Walnut Street Des Moines, IA 50319

Dear Review Committee:

I am writing this letter on behalf of OmniTel Communications (OmniTel). As a resident of Oakland, Iowa, we would like to express our full support of the Connect Every Iowan broadband grant application for OmniTel. They have a long and successful history of providing state-of-art telecommunications services in the State of Iowa for over 115 years and has a strong reputation for community commitment and strong customer service. We are confident in OmniTel’s capabilities for enhancing broadband service for Oakland.

With this grant, OmniTel will enhance our broadband connectivity with a fiber network design. This fiber build will enable us to overcome some geographical distances, empower us through information, and bring the world to us through a few simple strokes of a keyboard. As an unserved rural area with limited Internet services, we face many challenges including limited medical resources and distance between patients, physicians, specialists and facilities. Because of the rural nature of our area, our students do not receive equitable broadband resources as other students in more urban learning centers. We are lacking the research, distance learning, video and other tools that advanced broadband can bring to our students. Therefore, it is extremely important that broadband grant funding be obtained to provision for much needed broadband service to our area.

We strongly urge the Office of the Chief Information Officer of the State of Iowa fund this Connect Every Iowan Broadband Grant application, not only will this help with sustaining the future of advanced broadband services in OmniTel‘s proposed funded service area, but also promoting the future economic stability of our community.

Sincerely, James Peterson

711 Glass Street, Oakland, Iowa 51560


149 W. Broadway, Council Bluffs, IA 51503

September 17, 2019

Annette Dunn, Chief Information Officer

State of Iowa

Hoover State Office Building, Level B

1305 E Walnut St.

Des Moines, IA 50319

Dear Ms. Dunn:

On behalf of the Board of Directors for Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation, please accept this letter of support

for the Iowa Broadband NOFA 002 Grant for the installation of Fiber Optic Internet to be provided by OmniTel

Communications.

As the economic development arm of Pottawattamie County, Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation has a mission

of attracting new-to-market companies to our community as well as a focus on helping our existing businesses grow.

Our attraction efforts are targeted and include companies in the industries of technology/information, food

processing, agriculture (value-added), logistics and robotics.

In order to grow and attract new industry to Pottawattamie County we must have viable and reliable high speed

fiber optic internet. Being able to provide fiber optic internet with redundancies in place for Carson and Oakland

will not only help our County attract new business, but it will also help our current companies thrive. During the

most recent flood, the towns of Carson and Oakland were without internet for almost two weeks. Companies were

scrambling to handle orders, submit payroll and keep their business above water, both figuratively and literally.

Based on OmniTel’s redundancy plan, hopefully our businesses will never have this happen again. OmniTel has been

a model partner for Carson and Oakland as they have approached each City with detailed plans, innovative

technologies and constant communication on the status of each of the community’s projects.

Thank you for allowing Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation to express our support for awarding OmniTel with the

Iowa Broadband NOFA 022 grant for the installation of Fiber Optic Internet to Oakland. We thank the OmniTel team

for their commitment to growing these communities and we look forward to being able to promote OmniTel’s

services once the internet is operational. Please feel free to contact me directly at (402) 960-8505 should you have

any questions regarding the content of this letter.

Regards, Paula D. Hazlewood Shalimar Mazetis Paula D. Hazlewood Shalimar Mazetis

Executive Director Manager, Rural Development

Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation


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