In February 2021, Southern Rivers Energy (SRE) announced its partnership with Conexon to design and build a fiber network that will strategically serve two purposes: provide smart-grid capabilities to improve electric service and reliability and provide fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) high-speed internet to every EMC member through Conexon’s newly formed internet service provider, Connect. At the end of September 2023 after 25 months of hard work, the network was officially completed and SRE employees alongside Conexon, contractors, partners, and community supporters celebrated the end of the build.

The network now provides access to broadband service at more than 20,000 locations in SRE's service territory that previously lacked access to affordable, high-speed internet. Southern Rivers Energy invested approximately $53 million to construct more than 1900 miles of fiber that will strengthen their electric grid and improve reliability. Conexon invested a total of $6.5 million in electronics to provide broadband service to all of SRE’s members.

SRE owns the fiber network and Conexon uses a portion of the capacity to serve every SRE member with fiber-to-the-home internet with speeds up to 2 gigabits per second. The internet service is powered by EMC fiber, but Conexon Connect, the internet service provider arm of Conexon, provides retail service to homes and businesses and oversees customer service, and billing.

As of November 2023, more than 8000 SRE members have subscribed to fiber internet from Connect, powered by Southern Rivers Energy.

This partnership allowed SRE to build a future-proof electric network that will help their communities thrive for decades, while indirectly filling the need to provide fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) for SRE members.

The initial goal of the fiber-to-the-home part of the project was to provide high-speed internet to every Southern Rivers Energy member who wants service.

For more information, call Conexon Connect at 844-542-6663 or visit conexonconnect.com.