ELKINS — Rob Hinton, president and CEO of Micrologic visited with the Rotary Club of Elkins, updating the group on its Randolph County Fiber Broadband Project.

Micrologic is a full-service telecommunications company founded by Emiel Butcher in 1993 and based in Buckhannon with the goal of providing affordable connectivity to rural West Virginia. “Not only do we provide the end-service, we can also build the infrastructure for ourselves and build the infrastructure for others. We also provide data cabling, low voltage work, security camaras, and equipment that doesn’t necessarily need an internet connection but can enhance an internet connection,” said Hinton. The company will be opening an office in Elkins (in the former State Police barracks) and will also be opening an office in Petersburg in the future. These offices will allow customers to pay bills, ask questions or address their needs.

Micrologic is the state’s largest wireless internet service provider. They currently have 89 tower sites that cover nine counties as well as 700 planned fiber miles that are either in design or for which construction has been released. The Randolph County project is an extension of Micrologic’s current service area.

Customer service and customer experience are a company priority. “We want to ensure that you can have a great customer experience with a telecommunication company,” commented Hinton.

In addition to direct services to consumers, Micrologic also provides carrier level services, offering services and access to other providers like Micrologic that then provide service to residential and commercial customers. They also install and manage security systems and camera systems.

Data cabling is a large part of the service provided by Micrologic. “Every wireless connection you have goes into a wired solution at some point. Networking rooms and things of that nature improves the efficiency in connectivity,” said Hinton. “We go in and help clean that [cabling rooms] up and reorganize it so you don’t have as many outages.” They also maintain outside plant including lines and towers as well as designing and installing low voltage systems such as card-swipe access doors.

Micrologic has received some investment opportunities and awards from the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program as well as from the State of West Virginia Infrastructure Program. “We pride ourselves on our community partnership. We’ve been blessed as a company to win some investment opportunities and awards. We’ve been blessed with being able to compete with larger carriers and receive those investments to build out our communities,” said Hinton. “The way we look at it is how can we use our blessing to enhance the community, not just the telecom services we’re going to bring to the community.” Micrologic partners with Citizens Bank of West Virginia for banking and investment services. They also partner with the City of Elkins and its infrastructure departments. “They’ve [the City of Elkins] been a great partner to work with, have sped up some of the construction, and is a key reason behind our commitment to build out to all locations within the City of Elkins,” said Hinton.

The fiber project in Randolph County is a passive optical network that will bring services to over 10,000 customers. A passive optical network doesn’t have any active components that need power on the line, thus reducing the number of fail-points. The system is a state-of-the-art network that will provide up to 10 gigs of delivery per residential location. It will also provide the required gigs to commercial locations without having to do any work to the infrastructure other than replacing a plug in the system. “Not a lot of systems and services in rural communities mirror those available in major metro markets, that’s what we want to put into our rural communities,” said Hinton. “Major markets have “X” but typically rural communities only have 50% of “X” and that’s unacceptable. There’s no reason why rural communities can’t have the same access and affordability that the major markets have and we’re actually getting to that point today.”

West Virginia has no “power plant” for internet and data transfer. The closest data center hubs for these services are located in Ashburn, VA, Pittsburgh, PA, Columbus, OH, Chicago, IL and Atlanta, GA. Providers in West Virginia have to calculate the infrastructure capabilities necessary for this State to have those services. Micrologic will be developing dedicated long-haul transmission lines directly to a few of those data hubs to bring that service to rural communities.

The Randolph County project line has been completed from Buckhannon to the Norton/Coalton area. The line will continue through Crystal Springs to Elkins and the surrounding area by fall of this year. “We plan on having the Randolph County build 90% complete by this time next year or the close of 2025,” commented Hinton. This completed project will include access from the originating point in Buckhannon through Mabie, Norton and Coalton to Elkins. South of Elkins, access will be extended to between Beverly and Dailey. To the north, access will be extended to the Montrose/Tucker County line. East of Elkins, service will be extended to Bowden and the numerous campgrounds and tourist attractions in that area, as well as to Whitmer, Job and Bemis. All of these extensions should be completed by the end of 2025.

More information about Micrologic can be found at its website, www.micrologicwv.com.

Rotary is a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in their communities, and in themselves. Visit www.Rotary.org to learn more about Rotary International, visit the club’s Facebook page — Rotary Club of Elkins — or contact club president Tammie Rizzio at tammierizzio@gmail.com for more information about the Rotary Club of Elkins.