“We’re the biggest phone company you’ve never heard of,” says Great Lakes Comnet’s John Summersett. “We’ve purposely stayed off the radar because we didn’t want a big phone company to come along and squash us.”
Today, Great Lakes Comnet is a little too big to be off the radar. The company is a collaboration of 22 Michigan phone companies that have worked together for a decade to create a 2,000 mile fiber optic network. Now 2,000 more miles are planned, and the company has grown its staff from 30 to 45 over the last year. According to Summersett, 15 to 20 additional staff could be added in upcoming years.
“The staff we’re hiring is a lot of IT, so they’re a lot of good paying jobs,” he says. “We’ve got people in their 50's, 40's, 30's and 20's. We like having a good mix of everybody here.”
The growth is due to a combination of expansion and collaboration. First, the 2,000 additional miles of fiber optics will be added to the network as a result of a partnership with the Merit Network, a nonprofit that is utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to bring broadband to rural areas in Michigan.
Additionally, Comnet will soon be opening a 157,000 square foot data center in Holt called “the Datasphere” that will increase the company’s services and capabilities.
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