In November 2020, the Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative Board of Directors accepted a $14.1 million grant from the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and authorized staff to construct the fiber broadband network. The board gave staff two key objectives: First, provide fiber broadband service to every CCEC member who wants to subscribe, and second, electric revenue would not be used to subsidize Beacon Broadband operations. I’m proud to report Beacon Broadband is honoring these directives set by the board.

As of December 2024, Beacon Broadband provides service from the California border to Port Orford. That means more than 70% of CCEC members now have access to Beacon’s fiber broadband. Subscriber count grew 125% in 2024, ending the year with more than 4,500 active customers. In the first half of 2025, we expect to finish construction to our most rural locations in Curry County. Construction is also progressing north into Coos County.

Many of you who live in Curry County may not realize CCEC serves only the rural areas south and east of Coos Bay in Coos County. That means as we finish building the fiber network over the next two years, we will reach many of our most rural CCEC members who don’t have access to adequate broadband. For those of you still waiting, we are coming.

Beacon Broadband’s commitment to building a world-class fiber broadband network to serve the rural South Oregon Coast was recently recognized by the Oregon Broadband Office. This wasn’t an honorary recognition but a $19 million grant through the Oregon Broadband Deployment Program. In December, Beacon Broadband also received a notice of award from the United States Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect program of an additional $7 million grant. These two grant programs will fund most of the fiber network Beacon has left to build.

With the fiber network spanning Curry County, CCEC will connect electric substations to the fiber network in 2025. The network was designed and built with some fibers designated specifically for CCEC use. This will immediately improve CCEC’s ability to detect and respond to power outages. Storm response and restoration will be more efficient because outage locations can be identified faster and crews dispatched more effectively. This is just one example of the many ways the Beacon Broadband’s fiber communication network benefits CCEC operations.

Beacon Broadband made fantastic progress in 2024. We are on track to reach new milestones in 2025, bringing Beacon Broadband’s fiber experience where no one else will go.