Campbell foresees improved access and reliability for his company and believes competing networks will mean better service and competitive pricing that will benefit people throughout the valley.

Tenney said the line already has improved cable TV picture quality, provided additional channels and high-definition channels and allowed for video-on-demand. More services are expected to be added. The line also gives Cache County the capability to create a redundant Enhanced 911 system, which provides addresses automatically.

"On so many levels, it was absolutely so critical to have this redundancy," Thompson said. "It's a major milestone in modern tech economic development in Cache Valley. Without it, we were dammed, we were stopped.

"And," he said, "now I'm not embarrassed to talk with high-tech businesses about coming here."

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