Tulsa Daily Commerce & Legal News --

    MBO Video, Inc. has completed 270 miles of new fiber optic cable, which is putting Oklahoma on the forefront of advanced communications technology.
    This year-long multi-million dollar project was a joint partnership between MBO Video and four state government agencies.  After laying 100 fibers along state right-of-ways, MBO Video has created a fiber ring across the state.
    "Before, Oklahoma had a limited fiber optic telecommunication system with only 60 miles of cable between Stillwater and OU," said Gary Brown, director of information and communications services for OTA.
    "This is one of the projects that have made Oklahoma a leader in the nation with a total of about 550 miles of cable."
    Last fall, MBO Video and the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Oklahoma Board of State Regents and Oklahoma Office of State Franchise signed an exclusive partnership agreement allowing the private company the use of OTA's and ODOT's rights-of-way.  In return, MBO Video provided fiber optic cabling and installation for transportation at no cost to the government.
    The fiber optic cables reside beside the Cimarron Turnpike and Interstate 35.
    The new network connects with existing fiber to create a ring extending through Norman, Oklahoma City, Stillwater, Tulsa and Muskogee.
    The contract with MBO Video was beneficial for the state because the cost of installing fiber optic cable can be too overwhelming for state agencies to afford independently.
    "It's hard to say exactly how much savings the fiber optics will provide," said Brown.  "It would have cost about $25,000 per mile if we installed it ourselves."  Brown emphasized that the entire state of Oklahoma will benefit from improved voice, video and data capabilities.
    "This is a great opportunity for us to expand our network in Oklahoma," said David Miller II, president of MBO Corporation, which owns and operates MBO Video.  "The state has gained access to expand communications capabilities, such as the regent's ability to hook all of the colleges statewide into one telecommunications network."
    He said this partnership, and the amount of available fiber, put MBO Video on the forefront of communications technology internationally.
    "Through this cooperative effort, we forged new ground for future partnership agreements between public and private entities." said Brown.  "We were pleased that MBO Video completed the new fiber optics network in record breaking speed.  They also did not disturb or inconvenience highway travelers, or destroy the rights-of-way."
    "With the reality of land lines and capacity becoming limited, more telephone, cable and public / private businesses are requiring additional fiber optics capacity," said Danny Overland, vice-president of MBO Corporation.
    Overland said the network is co-located with other carriers, four in Tulsa and two in Oklahoma City, to provide this high-capacity telecommunications.
    Overland said local and long-distance companies are requiring additional capacity as a result of expanded use of the internet.  With the emergence of high-definition television and new video technologies, cable companies are also seeking expanded land lines to continue to haul traffic.
    "We've created a super-highway of sorts between Tulsa and Oklahoma City," said Overland.  "Our network is an integral part in the telecommunications link between Kansas City and Dallas.  The natural flow between these two cities is becoming overburdened and fiber is being sought after to provide this much needed high speed capacity."
    As a result of the increasing need for additional fiber optic capacity, MBO Video invested in a new technology for this project called SONET (Synchronized Optical Network).  This high speed transport system has transmission rates ranging from 51.84 BPS to 10 GBPS beyond a vast improvement over the older 45 megabytes systems.
    "The older technology was limited in its ability to communicate with the high-tech needs of the telecommunications industry," Edward A. Smith, one of MBO Video's project coordinators working on this project.  "SONET's tremendous bandwidth capabilities have opened the door for system compatibility and a myriad of revenue producing services for communication providers."
    These services include video transmission, information services, Local Area Network Interconnection (LAN) and broad band services, such as Sonet Transport, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), packet switching and Metropolitan Area Networks.
    "SONET is the communication highway that will take us well into the 21st century," said Smith.  "It will provide fiber to homes and businesses, with all of the touted features and services that now seem futuristic.  We predict it will soon become commonplace."
    MBO Video is a private Oklahoma minority-owned business.  The company, providing fiber connectivity to 60 percent of Oklahoma's population, offers specialized high-speed data, voice, video and data capabilities and is a subsidiary company of Cimarron Telephone and Cim-Tel Cable.