Tom Kelly
Editor and Publisher

In what a company executive called "a million to one shot coincidence," the small village of Dodson, and much of the surrounding rural area of North Central Louisiana, will soon go from none to not one, but two wireless broadband internet providers to be available on a commercial basis.

The two providers, Bayou Internet, and Nexus Systems, Inc., are both based in Monroe, and serve different medium and small markets in North Louisiana. Bayou Internet is a conventional internet service provider in the Monroe area, and is entering the wireless market with a USDA funded rural development grant with service due to be running within perhaps six months.

Nexus is internet service provider for most of the public school districts--including Dodson and other schools in Winn, Jackson, and other districts--in the North Louisiana area with wireless broadband with a system of linked towers starting on the east border of Louisiana, down Interstate Highway 20, then south along U.S. Highway 167. In the recent upgrade of its services, Nexus is nearing completion of a new system of wireless repeater stations, including one atop the Dodson municipal water tower, which rises about 130 feet directly above The Piney Woods Journal building, which served for many years as the Dodson town hall. The Journal moved its offices into the former municipal building when the Village offices occupied a modern new building and fire station on Gresham street at the corner next to the Dodson High School.

Tim Robinson, Nexus sales manager, said the service is expected to be available for residential and commercial use within two to three weeks.

Gene Yates, a Nexus technician working on the installation, says the wireless signal will be available within a radius of five to six miles of the tower.

Discussing the new service, Robinson said the wave of the future in communications, including internet and telephone, is wireless. Recent studies indicate that 70 percent of population 30 years and younger have no hard-wired home telephone, "and probably never will," relying exclusively on wireless cell phones. Nexus anticipates entering the wireless phone market as well, following what it believes to be the future of personal communication.

In a related announcement, the office of Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, Shreveport, revealed that Centennial Wireless will construct a new telecommunication tower serving the Toledo Bend area.

Campbell said, "The people and businesses in this area have been campaigning for better cellular and internet service, and I'm happy the Public Service Commission and Centennial Wireless can help deliver it."

The Shaw/Blackhawk community and the Mink community in Natchitoches parish were the last two areas of Louisiana without telephone service, Campbell said. "We solved that problem, and now we're moving on to better wireless telephone coverage and access to high-speed internet service for rural areas."

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