The Inline Amplifier Hut, a fiber internet regeneration facility housing communications equipment that enables the long-distance transmission of fiber optic signals, was recently constructed off Gobber Road by DC BLOX.
The ILA Hut was built in Oconee County to improve internet speeds directly from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia.
DC BLOX is a digital infrastructure provider that builds and manages its own data centers and fiber networks, said Bill Thomson, vice president of marketing and product management for DC BLOX.
“It’s the infrastructure needed to support homes, businesses, computers, communications equipment, and of course our networks carry data to and from those businesses and facilities,” he said.
Thomson explained the purpose of the ILA hat by comparing carrying fiber optic light to illuminating the darkness with a flashlight. The further away you are from the flashlight, the dimmer the light becomes.
“About every 50 miles, we need to install communications equipment to capture the incoming light, amplify it again, and send it back to the next 50 miles,” Thomson said.
DC BLOX’s cable landing station in Myrtle Beach has fiber-optic cables that carry all the internet data done by cell phones from continent to continent, Thomson said.
Increased growth in the Southeast has created a demand for data centers and fiber networks, particularly a direct east-to-west route from Myrtle Beach to Atlanta that previously did not exist, Thomson explained.
Thomson said he thinks of the route through Oconee as a “superhighway” that transfers data between everyone connected to it.
Other companies are building “rural roads” or fiber networks that connect directly to homes and businesses.
“The advantage of our network is that we don’t have to build anything beyond the local roads. Once they build the local roads, it’s more expensive to just connect them to the network routes to our superhighways. It’s more efficient,” Thomson said. “And we can deliver them to all the major communication points within the southeastern United States.”
Thomson said DC BLOX sells its fiber capacity to third-party companies. Companies publicly known to be using this include Google, Facebook, and Meta, a company owned by Instagram.
Thomson said companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Windstream could use ILA Hut to provide high-speed Internet access to the area.
County Executive Justin Kirouac said the county had initial discussions with DC BLOX about potentially using the facility for local broadband expansion, but ultimately it would not be used from Charter’s intra-county expansion. He said he was independent.
Thomson said Core One Consulting worked to identify land that DC BLOX could lease for the facility and secure the necessary permits to build the facility, including land off Gover Road.
“The need to put communications equipment there will only increase over time,” Thomson said. “As we sell more capacity on our fiber network, we’re going to bring more equipment into our facilities. And as long as the internet is there, we want it to be there.”
Thomson said the ILA hut in Oconee is discreet and relatively small, with communications equipment housed in a fenced building.
He compared it to buildings used by telephone and cable companies to house connecting equipment. Mr Thomson said ILA sheds should not emit light or sound on a regular basis, with the possible exception of outdoor security lights.
