Fulton Sun

Callaway County and Fulton are one step closer to having broadband Internet access.

As USDA rural development officials visited Socket Internet in Columbia Wednesday to meet with Socket executives and area officials to discuss the installation of a fiber optic cable trunk running from Columbia to Fulton and into Callaway County, they received the news that their environmental permits had been approved.

“We’re starting to get contracts in place, and we learned today that our environmental permits were verbally approved, so now we can get started with construction,” said Matt Kohly, Socket’s director of government affairs and carrier relations. “We hope to be breaking ground in 60 to 90 days.”