A European-based company specializing in improving internet infrastructure is helping a local telecommunications company bring greater connectivity to customers on the island.

Ekinops partnered with Whidbey Telecom in this endeavor to increase broadband internet access, which affects customers including those who are part of the company’s fiber network known as the BiG GiG.

“Rural operators like Whidbey (Telecom) are essential to filling the gaps in the digital divide because they serve locations other providers do not,” Joe Krzizike, North American Regional Vice President of Ekinops, said in a press release.

Many areas of South Whidbey have fiber coverage, although the network is growing thanks to federal funding. CEO George Henny said that on the South End, about 60% of Whidbey Telecom customers have fiber available to them.

As previously reported by The Record, a $11.8 million grant will help Whidbey Telecom complete the Point Roberts Middle Mile Infrastructure project and bring better internet connection to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station and underserved areas by funding the construction of 47.6 miles of terrestrial underground fiber and 63.1 miles of undersea fiber.

For this most recent project, Henny explained, Ekinops upgraded the optical transport network, which is the existing infrastructure between Whidbey Telecom and the internet connection points in Seattle. Ekinops’ technology allows for more bandwidth, increasing the capacity by about 10 times for customers. Henny compared the enhancement to adding more lanes onto a highway.

In a time when people are in need of more instant data access in their homes and businesses than ever, Whidbey Telecom is staying ahead of the curve.

“We’re really planning for the future here,” Henny said.

According to the press release from Ekinops, the upgrade will provide up to 600 gigabits – the unit for measuring data transfer rates between telecommunication points – of wavelength-division multiplexing transport capacity per channel throughout the Whidbey service area.

Although the benefits might be invisible at the moment, Henny said, they will be dramatic within the next two to three years.

(File photo by Luisa Loi/Whidbey News-Times) These orange rolled pipes, located at the Whidbey Telecom construction staging area in Langley, are conduits containing smaller tubes through which the fibers are pulled.