DILLER - Diller Telephone Company had what they described as a 'banner year' in 2019.

Not only did the Diller-based company celebrate its 120th year in business in 2019, but they also completed work on three fiberoptic cable facilities in three local exchanges at Harbine, Diller and Odell.

The company's Fiber To The Home (FTTH) Network is now available to both in-town and rural residents of those three communities. Diller Telephone's fourth local exchange in Virginia, NE will be completed in 2020.

The timeline of that completion is dependent on the weather, but the company hopes to start work in Virginia this spring.

The FTTH Network provides customers with internet speeds of over 100 megabytes per second or higher, according to a Diller Telephone press release.

Diller Telephone President Randy Sandman says getting high-speed broadband access to these rural areas fulfills a major need for their customers.

"Broadband is a game changer for our rural communities," Sandman said. "So, that's why we're so happy to be able to say that Diller, Odell and Harbine are areas that we serve are fully (connected) to the Fiber To The Home Network. In rural and in town."

The Diller Telephone Company, owned by Diode Communications, first opened in 1899. Diode serves roughly 50 communities all over southeast Nebraska, providing wireless broadband, phone, TV and other services.

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