The Kinex project has finished Phase I in this three-year project to bring broadband to Cumberland, Lunenburg and Prince Edward counties. That’s the good news. The bad news is that since laying down fiber beginning in September 2022, the project has hit some bumps in the road. However, officials say it is still close to on schedule.

For Phase I, Kinex built almost 290 miles of fiber in Prince Edward and Lunenburg counties. In the second phase, this work will continue while building a backbone loop through all three counties and also building laterals to serve enough clients to stay ahead of the Federal Communications Commission’s homes passed requirements.

“We’ve built down most of the western parts of Prince Edward and Lunenburg counties and will now build up the eastern sides of the counties,” said Jim Garrett, president of Kinex Telecom Inc. “We are very close to our original planned timeline. We did get behind a bit when we had to let some crews go in March because the locators were unable to keep up with the pace, but I think we have made up most of that time in the last few months.”

THE CONNECTION PROCESS LOOKS DIFFERENT

Currently, in Prince Edward, they are doing things a little differently. For part of the project, as they laid the cables in, the fiber was ready to connect instantly. This allows homes and businesses to connect days or even hours after the fiber has passed. Now, the connection process looks a bit different.

In this stage, the multiple crews are assigned to different sectors where the connections are then spliced together once finished. Then, the fiber splitters are placed in the required closures and spliced in as well. Kinex tests each Fiber Service Area (FSA) and once it passes they can accept the area from the contractor.

“That is the stage we are going through in Prince Edward right now,” said Garrett. “As we accept the FSAs, we have crews installing clients in those FSAs.”

According to Garrett, the project is going well. At the start of the project, Kinex encouraged people to sign up and many did. Now, they are bringing on contractors to help with the drop and bury and installations to reduce wait times. Overall, Garrett is thankful for the feedback and patience the project has received thus far from Kinex’s clients.