DZS Inc. announced the continued successful expansion of a major rural broadband transformation project being deployed by electric cooperative 4-County Electric Power Association in East Central Mississippi in conjunction with DZS strategic partner Irby Utilities (Irby), a subsidiary of Sonepar USA who provides full scope fiber network solutions through its Technology and Communications business group. Now in its second year of buildout, 4-County has moved beyond its successful pilot of DZS technology and Irby Utilities broadband network planning and deployment expertise to the aggressive expansion of its FASTnet Fiber program to its membership across nine counties. This program will be transformational to the region when it comes to fruition over the next few years, as 4-County lays over 3,700 miles of fiber to bring world-class gigabit+ services capabilities to over 40,000 homes and businesses.

Made possible by over $35 million in Rural Digital Opportunity Funds and millions more in CARES funding and committed investment by 4-County, the FASTnet Fiber program will also enable the cooperative to connect its critical electric infrastructure to a smart grid communications network. With approximately 40,000 members and 50,000 meters along 5,500 miles of power lines, 4-County is already one of Mississippi's largest electrical cooperatives, serving a variety of residential, commercial and government customers, including a U.S. Air Force base, a large truck engine plant, a drone manufacturing facility and a steel mill that is the largest TVA power consumer in the Southeast. All of these members are potential beneficiaries of the new FASTnet Fiber broadband network, enabling symmetrical speed residential packages of 200/500/1000 Mbps today and having the potential to deliver 10 Gbps services on demand tomorrow – all over the same fiber infrastructure and DZS Velocity and Helix systems. Irby Utilities is now helping 4-County plan for and rapidly deploying a range of DZS technologies that include: DZS Velocity Broadband Access solutions: The DZS Velocity V14 multi-terabit FTTx OLTs with GPON, XGS-PON, and Combo line cards form the foundation of FASTnet's multi-gigabit capable services deployment.

DZS V14 OLTs offer an ultra-high capacity, fiber-optimized aggregation platform suitable for deployment in even the most demanding physical environments. DZS Helix Edge Access solutions: DZS zNID ONTs provide wired connectivity in the home, while DZS Mesh-2100 dual band AC2100 wave 2 Wi-Fi repeaters are enabling a carrier-class Wi-Fi network for home and small office use.