Bluepeak, A New Highspeed Internet Provider, Breaks Ground in Casper

Bluepeak, a highspeed internet and cable provider based out of South Dakota, will be bringing their fiber-optic internet services to Casper, offering an alternative to existing providers like Spectrum, Verizon, and Mountain West.

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"We're getting ready to break ground on a fiber network construction project that will start here in the next week," said Mike Harry, the Chief Business Development Officer with Bluepeak. "We plan on building out the city of Casper with highspeed internet. We have a video offering as well. We plan to be in about 4,000 to 5,000 homes this year."

Harry said that the company is originally based out of South Dakota and the goal is to provide smaller cities with the same kind of internet access and speed that larger, more populated cities have.

"When we first started this company and were thinking about areas that needed service, that needed higher-speed broadband," Harry stated. "And we thought that areas like Cheyenne and Casper and Sheridan and Laramie deserve to have the same things that Denver and Chicago and L.A. have. I spent the majority of my career building and working in large metropolitan areas and I don't really want to do that again. We really felt the need to come out to places like Casper and cities this size that are sometimes forgotten, and make sure to bring what the metropolitan areas have."

Harry called their services "next generation technology," and said that they will offer various levels of internet speeds to Casper residents.

"We offer one gig as a minimum speed and a symmetrical service, which means with fiber [internet], you're getting upload and download speeds that are relatively the same," he said. "We offer one gig, two gigs, and five gigs to residential customers."

In addition to their internet services, Bluepeak also offers 3 cable packages.

The 'My Locals' package includes local television broadcast channels, such as ABC, CBS, and C-Span, and starts at $50 a month.

The 'My Locals + Favorites' package includes the local channels and popular cable networks such as AMC, A&E, and more. It starts at $110 a month.

And the 'My Locals + Favorites + Sports' package includes everything in the first two bundles, plus sports networks and Spanish language entertainment. It costs $120 a month.

"We're a traditional cable company," Harry said. "That's the foundation of what we are. So when we come into a market like this, we obtain a franchise agreement with the city."

Harry said this construction of this new service doesn't actually cost the city anything. It's entirely self-funded. Additionally, the construction will begin downtown, near David Street Station and then expand outwards, utilizing both underground and aerial construction.

Bluepeak''s website offers a step-by-step outline of how construction is created, and it answers various questions that residents may have regarding the development.

• 1: Before we begin, you’ll see flags and spray paint in your yard and along roads and sidewalks to mark underground utilities (such as water and gas lines). Once we notify 811 that we’re breaking ground, we make these marks to make sure our crews can work safely and avoid any interruptions to your utilities.

• 2: Construction teams work in public easements on or near your property to set fiber-optic access points known as pedestals. Where possible, we combine pedestals with other utilities or install ground-level units when other utilities are not present. This minimizes any impact to your property.

• 3: Our team starts by exposing the existing underground utilities by digging around the locate markings. Because we cross the other utilities when we place conduits, we need to know exactly where they are located.
• 4: Next, we install conduits and pull fiber through them.
• 5: Once construction is complete, we’ll rake, seed, and straw your lawn in the areas where digging occurred. You won’t even know we were there!

Casey Quinn, the Bluepeak Government Affairs Official, stated that the company chose Casper because it's a relatively untapped market.

"A big part of it is obviously that it's a nice, open market," he stated. "At the same time, our company comes from rural roots and we understand that a lot of companies pass over places like Wyoming. We believe that the people of Wyoming deserve as much access as someone in Los Angeles or New York does. So that's why we picked it. We love Wyoming, it's a great place."

The total project is estimated to take about 3 years until completion. For more information on Bluepeak, visit their website.