A very welcome and groundbreaking change has come to the Town of Morocco. NITCO has officially finished construction on a new Gigabit Fiber network that will bring higher quality internet and incredible benefits to the rural community. NITCO staff, Town and County officials, and many community members gathered in Recher Park on Thursday, August 25 to celebrate this huge milestone for the Morocco community. Everyone enjoyed grilled hotdogs and delicious cake as NITCO cut the ribbon on a project well done.
Tom Long, President of NITCO, spoke a few words before the ribbon-cutting ceremony. He was very proud to bring such a high-quality internet service to a small, rural town that gets too often ignored by big internet providers.
“I’ve been asked, ‘Why go to Morocco? Why don’t you go to a bigger city?’ No, no, no. We serve Rural America. Our mission is to bring high-quality services to areas that sometimes the big guys overlook,” said Long.
Overlooked is one way to describe the Town of Morocco. AT&T used to have a network in Morocco, but it completely abandoned it. NITCO stepped up and decided this needed to change. They proposed their plan to the town council in January.
“We met with the town council and showed them what we wanted to do. We told them we wanted to create a really fine network because it has so many advantages, including economic development, and job creation, and just makes the community a special place,” said Tom Carroll, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for NITCO.
Everybody was enthusiastically on board and construction started fast. It only took eight months to complete the project with everyone working together so passionately to finish and help the community.
“Kudos to our construction guys. They worked six, seven days a week. They worked in rainy weather—when you’re up in a bucket truck and it’s raining cats and dogs it gets nasty. So, for sure, thanks to the construction guys, the splicing team, the design team, and the permitting team. They all came together to get this done. We’re so proud of them,” said Carroll.
The network was originally capable of reaching 425 homes, but NITCO expanded it and it can now reach over 600 houses and as the town continues to grow the network will expand with it. To celebrate this accomplishment, NITCO is offering a special price of $29.95 a month for the first 12 months of the new Fiber service.
Tim Myers, Director of Newton County Economic Development, is excited about what this new Fiber network means for the development of Morocco and Newton County. Morocco is the first town to have the new fiber network installed, but plans are in the works to offer this service to the entirety of Newton County, and as more networks are installed the County will continue to grow and strengthen.
“It gives us so many opportunities, not only with residential growth but with business growth. Retail businesses, manufacturing businesses, industrial, everything. So, for us to be able to say we have a smart community now is a really big deal,” said Myers.
The impact this new Fiber network will have on the Town of Morocco and Newton county is truly incredible and appreciated by all.
Everyone is looking forward to Morocco’s bright future, and NITCO is proud to support the development of small, growing communities.
“We’re here and we’re here to serve. We all live, work, and shop here in Northwest Indiana. Our company is local. When you call we pick up the phone either in Rensselaer or Hebron, not some big city who knows where,” said Long.
To learn more about NITCO and its support of local communities, visit https://www.nitco.com/.