Minneapolis (November 21, 2011) — Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLFD), the specialist in fiber management and connectivity platforms for communications providers, today announced that West Kentucky and Tennessee Telecommunications Cooperative (WK&T) is deploying its FieldSmart platform for fiber management and protection needs in the central office of its extensive Fiber to the Home build. The funds for WK&T’s $123.8 million investment in fiber come from loans plus grant money awarded through the Broadband Initiatives Program of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. WK&T is the largest stimulus-funded project in the country focused on wireline services. This will allow WK&T to offer advanced telecommunications services over fiber to 21,000 homes and businesses across the company’s 9-county service area in west Kentucky and northwest Tennessee. Construction has begun on three of the 22 exchanges within the serving area with completion scheduled within the next three years.
“We conducted a thorough and stringent process of selecting partners for the stimulus award at west Kentucky. Clearfield’s dedication to superior functionality and technology at a fair price were the prime factors in our selection,” commented Ray Cantrell, CTO of WK&T. “Not only do the panel systems allow us the flexibility to deploy in multiple environments, but the cassettes offer many different features that we feel are an added value.”
“We have had the pleasure of working with the staff at WK&T for a number of years,” said Johnny Hill, vice president and COO of Clearfield. “Their dedication to excellence is apparent in everything they do and this network, when complete, will be a stellar example of what broadband can provide to rural economies across our country.”
Cantrell concluded, “I would be remiss if I didn’t mention support. Clearfield leads the industry in their consultative approach to problem solving.”
About Clearfield, Inc.
Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLFD) designs, manufactures and distributes fiber optic management products for the communications networks of leading ILECS, CLECs, MSO/cable TV companies and mobile broadband providers. We help service providers solve the Fiber Puzzle, which is how to reduce high costs associated with deploying, managing, protecting and scaling a fiber optic network to deliver the mobile, residential and business services customers want. Based on the patented Clearview™ Cassette, our unique single-architected, modular fiber management platform is designed to lower the cost of broadband deployment and maintenance by consolidating, protecting and distributing incoming and outgoing fiber circuits and enable our customers to scale their operations as their subscriber revenues increase. Headquartered in Plymouth, MN, Clearfield deploys millions of fiber ports each year throughout North America.