It’s being dubbed Pioneer 2.0.

It’s also called the “Pioneer Broadband Revolution.”

No matter the name, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative is taking on a massive project over the next five years.

As cooperatives around the nation celebrate National Co-op Month, the largest employer in Kingfi sher is bracing for the future.

At the same time, leaders can’t help but revisit the past, because the new project is similar to one that birthed the cooperative in the first place.

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Pioneer was recently given the initial approval to move ahead with its program to deliver fiber to every single cooperative member in its footprint.

“This is a huge project and we are very excited to launch this new mission,” General Manager Blake Callaham told the Times & Free Press.

The funding will come through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) via its Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) project. Though the amount Pioneer will receive for the project hasn’t been finalized, Callaham said the cooperative will see the funding it needs to deliver fiber services to nearly 18,000 more members over the next five years.

The support won’t end there.

“This is a 15-year project,” Callaham explained. “We have five years to build this out, but there’s also the operational side.”

That will include service, upgrades and other ongoing support for an additional 10 years.

“This project will help Pioneer complete our mission of being 100 percent fiber by the end of 2028,” Callaham said. “This secures our footprint.” It’s a mission Pioneer has already steadily been working toward for several years as a member of the A-CAM Broadband Coalition.

Through that coalition, Pioneer built 7,000 miles of fiber from 2016 through 2022.

That coalition will end in 2028 and Pioneer saw Enhanced A-CAM as a huge opportunity to serve all of its membership.

Leaders went to work and put together a program to be presented for consideration.

On top of the usual logistics, Pioneer also had to prove it had certain cyber-security and supply chain issues in place.

“Thisdidn’thappenovernight and it was through the efforts of a lot of people, not just Pioneer,” Callaham said, mentioning specifically the National Telephone Cooperative Association.

“The rural telecommunications industry has worked on this for quite some time,” Callaham added. “We are happy to see it come to fruition.”

Callaham also applauded the work of Carly Franks, who is in charge of government and industry affairs at Pioneer.

“She has done a great job of working with a lot of different entities to help coordinate the project,” he said.

Specifically, the five-year project will see Pioneer add 1,906 miles of fiber, which includes 1,426 miles in rural areas and another 480 in cities and towns.

“This is fewer miles than our previous project, but it’s also a lot of smaller builds,” Callaham explained. “That makes it more time consuming and is where a lot of the cost comes into play.”

In all, some 18,024 locations will be serviced whether in rural areas or in 55 additional towns that don’t already have fiber.

Once completed, Pio-neer will be servicing nearly 70,000 locations with fiber.

Locations will stretch from the southern border in towns like Hollis and Frederick to the Kansas border to the north and Texas border to the west.

The project is set to begin in January 2024 and Enhanced A-CAM does require milestones be met in the construction phase.

By the end of Year 3, 50 percent of the project must be complete.

The number jumps to 75 percent by the end of Year 4.

If the milestones are not met, Pioneer will face a stiff financial penalty.

“A lot of the smaller parts of the project will be done in-house,” Callaham said. “But we have to meet those deadlines, which is important. The larger parts of this will be contracted out.”

By the end of 2028, all of Pioneer’s territory will have fiber, which Callaham says adds miles of value.

“It provides all the benefits such as tele-health, remote work, online education and ultimately provides an opportunity for rural western Oklahoma to thrive once again,” he said.

The major undertaking is one Pioneer has taken on before and the significance isn’t lost on Callaham.

“Does this sound familiar?” he asked. “This is the same mission that we were founded upon in 1953 – delivering telephone services to all members. Now, 70 years later, the mission has evolved to delivering fiber services to every single cooperative member. We are looking forward to the launch of Pioneer 2.0.”