Two fiber-to-the-premises vendors announced new independent telco customers today, both of which are using the new technology to overbuild nearby areas and compete with other incumbents.

ADC said Consolidated Telecommunications Co. (CTC) of northern Minnesota will use its OmniReach FTTX technology to provide voice over IP, IPTV and high-speed data over fiber to residents of Brainerd and Baxter. Wave7 Optics said Wabash Mutual Telephone of Celina, Ohio, will deploy its Last Mile Link FTTP system to offer competitive voice, data and video services to areas around its service territory that are currently served by Verizon and Adelphia.

Wabash will begin construction of its FTTP network almost immediately and could turn up its first customers in August, the two companies said. Mike Boley, general manager of WMT, said in a prepared statement that Wabash chose Wave7 in part because its optical line terminal unit is field-hardened and can be deployed close to the customer's premises.

CTC, a cooperative already delivering high-speed data and digital video to its 10,000 members, built a public-funded fiber backbone network to serve the Brainerd schools and retained the rights to use part of that capacity to deliver its own services.

It will begin construction this summer and plans to have a 100-square-mile overbuild completed by 2008.

CTC will use the ADC OmniReach Fiber Access Terminals and ADC OmniReach Fiber Distribution Terminals, which were chosen for operational efficiency and scalability, said Bill Stroot, director of operations for CTC, in a prepared statement.