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A Reliable Infrastructure

Omaha has a solid communications and utility infrastructure dedicated to supporting all variety of commercial and residential needs.

The city has long been a telecommunications leader. Toll-free numbers got their start here in the late 1960s. The city has an extensive fiber optic infrastructure available from several providers to business parks throughout the area.

The city’s reliable telecommunications infrastructure offers huge switching capacity, an attractive tool for the many firms that rely on telecommunications. The circuit architecture’s diversity is enhanced by the number of primary and secondary long-distance carriers with multiple points of presence serving the area. Omaha is one of the few U.S. cities at the intersection of both east-west and north-south fiber optic networks.

There are numerous telecom companies that provide a variety of services to Greater Omaha residents and businesses.

Qwest’s IP network transfers voice, video and data across the globe for businesses of all sizes. The Qwest network has the capacity and advanced capabilities to support applications such as Voice over IP (VoIP), as well as bandwidth-intensive business applications and other business-to-business functions. Qwest Choice TV & OnLine™ was one of Omaha’s first high-speed residential Internet services.

Cox Communications, which has served the Omaha metropolitan area for 25 years, employs 1,100 people and has invested more than $600 million to build and maintain the fiber optic infrastructure here.

“The consumers in Omaha have been excellent partners as Cox launched products and services new to our industry,” says Percy Kirk, Cox vice president and regional manager. “Often times, Omaha was one of the first Cox systems in the country to offer these services, putting Omaha ahead of the telecommunications curve.”

DexOnline.com is consumers’ first choice for Internet Yellow Pages/local search in the region – and has been for 12 consecutive quarters. Dex, which employs 115 people in the Omaha area, has always been in the business of helping advertisers succeed by connecting them with more customers, says Ray Filipowicz, the company’s director in Omaha.

“Omaha is a great place for Dex because it’s a great community for our people to work in, and it’s a welcoming and vibrant community for the advertisers we serve and want to see succeed,” he says.

The Metropolitan Utilities District (M.U.D.) provides water and natural gas to customers across the metropolitan area, and provides a cost-saving service to municipalities by collecting sewer use and trash fees. The utility’s new $352 million pumping plant, under construction at 216th and Q streets, will bring the total pumping capacity for the system to 338 million gallons per day – enough to meet demand for the next 50 to 60 years.

M.U.D. works closely with the economic development teams from the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Sarpy County Economic Development Corporation and Gateway Economic Development Corporation in Washington County, to provide details on gas and water to potential new businesses.

The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) is one of the largest publicly-owned electric utilities in the nation, serving more than 310,000 customers in 13 southeast Nebraska counties. OPPD rates rank 33.4 percent below the national average in cost per kilowatt-hour for commercial customers and 39.7 percent below for industrial customers, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The electric utility has reinvested in its facilities on a regular basis. A second generating unit at OPPD’s Nebraska City site will provide 663 megawatts of power, while a major refurbishment at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Station will allow the plant to operate until 2033.

Above ground and below, Greater Omaha has the infrastructure needed for today – and many years to come.