SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — Starting this August, Sullivan County residents will see a brighter shade of orange mingling with the falling leaves. An outrageous shade of orange, one might even say. 

“’Outrageously Orange’ is our color—yes, that is the name of it,” said Diane Quennoz, chief customer officer at Archtop Fiber. 

The orange trucks, personnel and publicity push—complete with slogans such as “Making Sullivan County #fastAF”—herald the arrival of reliable, high-speed internet to Sullivan County. 

Archtop Fiber, a startup internet service provider headquartered in the Hudson Valley, plans to connect Sullivan County’s 12 public safety radio broadcast towers with fiber optic internet cables. Archtop will use those towers to broadcast wireless signals to receiver boxes placed in customers’ businesses, homes and more. 

That phase of construction will take place over the next 18 months, with completion planned for December 2026. By the time that phase concludes, 22,000 locations across Sullivan County will have access to Archtop’s network. 

Quennoz said the company will make its presence known as it starts to build out the network. It will publish on its website the phases and estimated timings for each part of its construction, and will be active in connecting with residents through leaflets, advertising and more. 

Ninety days out from the completion of a part of the project, it will start notifying customers and businesses in that area, and will start to sign up customers around 30 days before the service will be available. 

Archtop Fiber staff and local and state government representatives gather around on Thursday, June 12 for a symbolic first shovel in the ground on Archtop's Sullivan County project.

Connecting Sullivan County

Archtop announced the project’s timeline and details at a Thursday, June 12 press conference at Bethel Woods. 

The project is a partnership between the Sullivan County government and Archtop Fiber. It’s supported by $29.9 million dollars in funding from the New York State ConnectALL initiative, referred to by Sullivan County Legislature Chair Nadia Rajsz as “the largest single grant in our history.”

Sullivan County has been working for years on ways to expand its residents access to high-speed internet. It founded a broadband local development corporation in 2020, which examined ways to use the county’s public safety radio broadcast towers for internet access. 

The county found a partner in Archtop soon after that company’s founding in 2022. Three years later, that partnership has progressed to where the company can put a shovel in the ground. 

The connectivity Archtop provides will be “multi-gig,” according to chief development officer Shawn Beqaj. He said the connection will be up to 10 gigabytes per second, with average residential speeds between one and eight gigabytes per second. 

Archtop advertises symmetrical internet speeds, with upload and download speeds being the same. 

Beqaj said that, while Archtop Fiber is focused on providing internet access, it provides backflow capacity to cellular companies. 

Lorne Green, Sullivan County Information Technology Commissioner, talks about the promise of Archtop Fiber's impact on Sullivan County on Thursday, June 12.

More than just technology

Speakers emphasized the transformative possibilities of expanded internet access for Sullivan County. 

Sullivan County Information Technology Commissioner Lorne Green said that broadband challenges had been discussed in Sullivan County for 20 years. While the extended process of solving those problems at times caused him to lose faith, he said the county’s actions were supporting it today. 

“The bottom line to us all is that high speed fiber to the home and fixed wireless solutions are not just about faster internet—they’re about leveling the playing field,” he said. “They’re all-powerful tools, gateways to opportunity and long-term, sustainable resilience for communities such as ours.”

“This partnership isn’t really just about bringing high-speed internet to the region, though it’s obviously important to all of us,” said Archtop Fiber CEO Jeff DeMond. “It’s really about building a lasting, durable, positive economic impact for the region.”