Wyoming-based visionary Broadband continues to grow.Acquires Colorado internet company

Visionary Broadband is one of the few companies that has been connecting small, rural locations in the Intermountain West long before it became popular.

The company, which started Wednesday in a basement in Gillette, Wyoming with three tech-savvy friends looking for ways to make the internet better, is helping more than 5,000 people in small communities like Centennial and Glendo to Announced 15 new projects that connect to the Level network. – High speed internet. The company also acquired an internet provider in Colorado to expand its regional footprint.

Visionary Broadband CEO Brian Worthen said these projects are just a continuation of a vision that began in a Gillette basement during the days of dial-up Internet.

“Back then, you were spending $100, $200, $300 a month to get internet at dial-up speed in rural areas,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

Within days of solving this problem and building a better mousetrap, the trio received support from others who wanted more affordable Internet service, including about 60 accounts for local school districts. I noticed your request.

“That’s when they realized they had built a business,” Worthen said.

But today, the company is no longer a small company. We’ve grown big by offering small, and now we’re planning to get even bigger.

multifaceted push

Visionary’s recent efforts in the Intermountain West are multifaceted.

First, there are 15 projects totaling $26.6 million that will bring high-speed internet to several rural areas that are currently underserved.

This is being done under the much larger $111 million Connect Wyoming initiative under the Wyoming Business Council’s Broadband Office.

But at the same time, the company also just acquired Colorado-based Aristata. This acquisition not only expands our footprint in the Colorado region; It’s also important to add seasoned professionals to your team.

“There are no university programs in this industry that produce broadband builders that can be hired from universities,” Worthen said. “So we have to get creative about how we increase our staff.”

In Wyoming, this typically means hiring a person and training them for one to four years before receiving the benefits of that training.

The acquisition of Aristata will allow Visionary to gain access to already trained talent while expanding into new regions adjacent to those already served by the company.

Meanwhile, Arista will be able to serve its customers better, making the whole thing a win-win-win.

challenge a steep hill

Arista serves regions with difficult terrain, but this isn’t the first time the visionary has taken on the challenge of climbing the Rocky Mountains.

Take the small town of Marble, Colorado, for example. Including the surrounding area, the town has a population of just 134 people and 413 homes and businesses.

People who live in and around Marble enjoy spectacular topography, which requires difficult construction for almost everything, even a simple utility pole.

But these challenges don’t stop Visionary Broadband. His $890,000 project in Marble not only brought top-notch Internet service to an area unlikely to be readily served by other service providers, but also the entire Crystal River Valley’s lost I filled in the link.

“What we’ve found is people who are willing to put in the work, whether it’s through grants or just taking on areas that haven’t been served before, and people who are willing to roll up their sleeves. are receiving work,” Worthen said. “What we do is very Wyoming: roll up our sleeves and get the job done.”

break the monopoly

Worthen said that while bringing broadband to difficult areas will remain a focus for Visionary, the company also sees an opportunity to really build on the backbone of what it has already accomplished in remote areas around large communities. He said he was finding out.

“If you look forward to it, we actually took the people who built broadband in some of the toughest parts of Wyoming and applied it to city and town boundaries,” Worthen said. “We’ve been in broadband for a long time, before the phone companies and before the cable companies.

“And we were perfectly fine with being relegated to the county area. But we realized we had a skilled staff and could compete downtown, and that’s what we chose.”

That’s why the Wyoming company is now installing fiber in large communities like Cheyenne and Casper, delivering advertised 1- and 2-giga speeds, Worthen said.

While this may not be the fastest as advertised, Worthen acknowledged that the infrastructure the company is putting in place is built with the long-term in mind. You can expand to 10 gigs when the time is right.

“So at some point in the future, when we say we want to be a 10 gig provider, we can change the settings that everyone is currently connected to,” he said. “It’s that simple.”

In the future, Worthen envisions a break from the stranglehold that telephone and cable companies have had on the broadband market, and his Wyoming company is helping make that happen. is.

“And it’s not driven by the stock market or by people in rooms across six states,” Worthen said. “It’s people just like me. And I personally believe in having an impact locally and being out in the community and seeing that impact locally.”

René Jean It can be accessed at Renee@CowboyStateDaily.com.