Utah Broadband has appointed a new CEO whose priorities include growing the company’s customer base and continuing to provide internet connectivity to unserved and underserved communities in the state, including in Summit and Wasatch counties.

Ben Elkins replaces Taunya Martin, former president of Utah Broadband, who retired. He is pulling double duty by also continuing as head of the Arizona-based AireBeam, which, like Utah Broadband, is a subsidiary of Boston Omaha Corporation.

Elkins has been AireBeam’s CEO for two years and was appointed to the Utah position in May.

During his tenure, AireBeam increased fiber subscribers by 375% and increased overall customer count by 20%, according to the company. Elkins plans to bring the same growth plan to Utah Broadband, which has approximately 30,000 customers in the Beehive State.

“We expect to grow our customer base by 20% to 30% in the next 12 to 18 months,” he said.

Utah Broadband has been providing wireless internet in Utah since 2002 and also began offering high-speed fiber to the home in 2021, the year Boston Omaha acquired the company. The other counties where Utah Broadband operates are Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah and Weber.

In the past four or five years, growth in the state prompted other internet companies to start building infrastructure in rural areas. Utah Broadband was way ahead of them, he said.

“Utah Broadband served rural Utah for the last 22 years and they’ve gone to spots all the big companies refused to go to and all the different parts of the Wasatch Back,” Elkins said.

He said there are about 5,000 to 6,000 Utah Broadband customers in Summit and Wasatch counties. Jeremy Ranch, Snyderville and Pinebrook are among the communities where a high percentage of residents are customers, he said.

Utah Broadband has wireless and fiber in Heber City. The company has wireless internet customers in Park City proper but “not a ton,” Elkins said. Fiber currently is not in Park City. 

The two counties will be Utah Broadband’s biggest growth areas over the next five to 10 years because of the company’s growing fiber footprint there, he said.

Elkins alternates weeks working in Arizona, where AireBeam is based in Arizona City, a small town halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, and in Utah, where the headquarters is in Draper. Boston Omaha, which is based in Nebraska, also owns InfoWest, an internet service provider in St. George, and Fiber Fast Homes, a nationwide company.

Utah Broadband and AireBeam are working with Utah and Arizona officials to help unserved and underserved areas in their respective states, Elkins said.

Under President Joe Biden’s Internet for All initiative, the federal government distributed billions of dollars last year to the states, territories and the District of Columbia to build internet infrastructure. The goal is to connect everyone in America to reliable, affordable high-speed internet by 2030.

Elkins said using high speed internet for telemedicine, to attend school and to work from home improves lives. The higher cost of connecting internet in rural areas has not deterred Utah Broadband and AireBeam, he said.

“We would go there and provide service and not worry so much about our cost up front and take care of the customers,” he said. “We knew long term we’re looking at this as a 20- to 30-year investment. If we take care of our customers now, they’ll be a customer the rest of their lives.”