OSHKOSH -- Oshkosh residents and businesses will soon have a fiber option.

Vistabeam Internet representatives and community members gathered November 1 to recognize expansion fiber network by Vistabeam Internet into the Oshkosh area.

"I've been the mayor, on the council, for about eight years now. We've been working on this project; kind of gave up once, and got right back at it. And, these guys have done a tremendous job for us. I guess I can't say enough about it,"  Oshkosh Mayor Terry Davis.

Davis said the availability of fiber optics is good news for all ages.

"To some older people ... and you'd be surprised but some of the older people are really excited. Some of the people, it doesn't make any difference, but it does to I would say 95 percent of the community," he said.

"Vistabeam's actually been providing service in this area since 2005. We got a grant from Garden County Economic Development back in the day, and we used that to build connectivity all the way from Scottsbluff down to Garden County, and really looking forward to putting the fiber into Oshkosh. We've started the transition from doing just wireless to start doing more fiber," said Vistabeam Internet CEO Matt Larsen at the groundbreaking in Oshkosh.

Larsen said the addition of a fiber network is a big asset to small communities.

"It opens up a lot of different opportunities as far as being able to more online learning, more telecommuting to jobs that are outside the community, education, just everything works better. So, we're really looking forward to getting the fiber built down here. I think it's going to be great for the town," Larsen said.

Vistabeam traces its history to Scottsbluff. It started with just a few sites and has continued to grow.

"We started out in Scottsbluff in 2004. We had three towers; one in Gering, one in Minatare and one in Torrington, Wyo. Now we're up to I think 360 towers across Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska," he said.

Larsen said the goal is to start construction in early 2024. Wireless service is presently available in the Oshkosh area.  He said Vistabeam has fixed wireless available in and around Oshkosh and will move customers from wireless to fiber at no charge when the fiber network is done.

Kevin Stocker, fifth district Public Service commissioner present at the groundbreaking, compared the expansion of the fiber network to rural electrification in 1920s and 1930s.