Socket Telecom’s executives and Gov. Jay Nixon last week outlined the impact of the broadband Internet installation project in Callaway County that Socket will undertake, thanks to an award of nearly $24 million in federal stimulus funds.
The Columbia-based company will deploy a fiber optic network that will directly connect more than 3,000 homes and businesses in Callaway County.
Socket expects to create 525 jobs related to the construction and management of the fiber-to-the-home network, co-owner Carson Coffman said. (Editor’s note: Our previous version said incorrectly that they are area jobs. They are direct and indirect jobs within and outside the area.)
Coffman said broadband Internet is a vital component to the continued economic growth of rural areas, and that subscribers will have access to telephone, video and broadband Internet access services at an affordable price. 
Socket determined through surveys that Callaway County residents wanted better Internet service.
 The funding, stemming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,  is composed of a $16.6 million grant and $7 million loan. Socket was one of three Missouri companies included in this round of funding for rural broadband projects.
Nixon compared the importance of these projects to the significance of the interstate highway system’s construction that started in the 1950s. He said the broadband projects will help small businesses expand their markets.
For more information on the project: www.socket.net/fiber