ISP announces the tenth anniversary of the company’s founding.
HUDSON OAKS, Texas – Nextlink Internet, one of the fastest growing rural internet service providers in the U.S., announces the tenth anniversary of the company’s founding.
Nextlink was founded in July 2012 in Weatherford, Texas by Bill Baker and Danny Gilbert and funded by a group of “family and friends” investors. That fall, the company leased its first tower and signed up its first subscriber. After Danny’s untimely passing the following year, Bill and team continued through a decade of consistent organic growth and has become one of the largest wireless internet service providers in the nation.
“What a ride this has been,” said Bill Baker. “Our mission since the company’s founding has been to provide excellent connectivity and customer service to rural areas that have been left without quality broadband for far too long. For the past 10 years, we have proved that mission is both possible and sustainable.”
Nextlink currently has a 4.8 out of 5 star customer satisfaction rating on Google, and provides internet service to approximately 90,000 customers across seven states and has grown to 1,000 employees with over 40 field offices. In 2021, Nextlink was voted WISPA’s Operator of the Year and has also been awarded Fastest Fixed Wireless Provider and Top Internet Speeds in Texas by Broadbandnow.com.
For the past five years, Nextlink has been included in the “Inc. 5000” list of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies. It was also recently awarded $429 Million through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) to bring gigabit fiber and wireless internet to underserved rural communities across 11 sates in the Midwest.
“We will be moving even faster in the future,” said Bill Baker. “Beginning in this fall, we will kick off a multitude of projects running well over 1,000 miles of fiber and release hundreds of towers providing higher-speed service than we have ever offered before. We are primed for even more radical growth than we have experienced in the past and anticipate creating over 100,000 fiber passings this coming year.
“Growing up in rural Texas, I saw how important modern services were to the vitality of rural communities. That’s what drives us: to always do the right thing by our customers and our team. I look forward to the next decade of successfully serving rural America.”