Efforts Keep Internet Flowing

Since its 2013 launch, the NAFiber division of North Alabama Electric Cooperative has brought high-speed, fiber-to-the-home internet to more than 7,000 of the area’s previously unserved or underserved residents.

NAFiber’s 15 full-time employees, from inside administrators and technicians to outside fiber lineworkers, keep operations running and the internet flowing at speeds up to 1 Gbps.

Managing the group is William Selby, whose dedication earned him the Alabama Rural Electric Association’s 2024 Jack Jenkins Cooperative Employee Citizenship Award. The award honors cooperative employees who have made outstanding contributions to their cooperative, community or state.

More than 1,100 miles of fiber lines are under the staff’s constant watch, not only for local users but for the vast Alabama Fiber Network, created in 2021 to deliver high-speed internet to rural communities across the state. NAFiber is an AFN partner, providing “middle mile” infrastructure that gives fiber networks connectivity with the outside world.