Andrews — Twenty-first century network infrastructure is in Andrews. BalsamWest FiberNET has finished construction of a portion of its 144-strand fiber optic backbone through the city of Andrews. Local government, education and business leaders met at the Andrews train depot to await the arrival of BalsamWest FiberNET in Cherokee County. Construction reached the city’s train depot shortly after one p.m. on Wednesday, June 16th . BalsamWest FiberNET plans to continue the line on to Murphy and begin construction back to Franklin to finish construction of what will be a self-healing SONET ring. The carrier-grade network will connect Jackson, Macon, Swain Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties with geographically diverse redundancy.

John Short, General Manager of BalsamWest FiberNET, “We are excited to arrive in Andrews, our first stop in Cherokee County. With the assistance of the Great Smoky Mountains Railway, the difficulty of deploying the network through the Nantahala Gorge has been greatly reduced. By placing the fiber conduit underground, the impact on the environment has been minimized.”

Cherokee County Commissioner, Barbara Vicknair, "Affordable access to the Information Highway is as important to economic development today as highways were 25 years ago. It’s one of the key factors that companies weigh when they are considering moving into a region."

The length of the entire ring is expected to be over 200 miles with nearly 100 miles of construction already completed. BalsamWest has previously connected Macon, Jackson and Swain Counties. With the addition of Cherokee County, four of the six counties in the BalsamWest service area have fiber infrastructure. In the next phase of fiber deployment, BalsamWest will continue on to Murphy.

The construction of the entire BalsamWest fiber optic network is funded through its founding members, Drake Enterprises, Ltd. and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Southwestern Community College, based in Webster, is BalsamWest’s Community Interest Partner.

Michell Hicks, Principal Chief, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians stated, "Progress has been impressive and swift to link our neighbors in towns like Andrews. We still have miles to go and remain vigilant to accomplishing the goal of bringing 21st Century infrastructure to western North Carolina. In addition to the infrastructure, each community must now begin to plan and prepare for the myriad of opportunities that this fiber optic backbone will bring to the region."