In January 2011, the Public Utility District No. 1 of Okanogan County was awarded funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to deploy a Middle Mile and Last Mile broadband communication system throughout the county. In 2015, the Okanogan PUD completed this project.

With this funding, the Okanogan PUD built a fiber optic network backbone that provides a wide variety of data services for the District and the community. The backbone stretches from the Columbia River junction in Brewster to the Canadian Border. This system meets long-term residential, commercial, industrial and civic services and promotes the expansion of the Districts Open Access Network for retail service providers.

Congressman Dan Newhouse recently stated in a congratulatory letter to the Utility “your dedication to this project of bringing high-speed networks to your area has proven your outstanding work ethic. You are clearly driven to help others in any way possible. These new networks will provide constituents with more and easier routes to education and job opportunities”.

Okanogan PUD will continue to provide cost-based, open access telecommunications services for residents of Okanogan County with a commitment to the telecommunications infrastructure. We are proud to be one of the few utilities in the United States to be recognized as completing an ARRA project.