Internet in Hermiston is about to get a whole lot faster.

Eastern Oregon Telecom has announced it is bringing a fiber broadband network — boasting speeds 100 times faster than the average broadband Internet — to Hermiston and parts of Umatilla, Irrigon and Boardman.

The telecommunications company estimates the ultra-fast Internet will connect to about 8,000 homes and businesses by the end of 2016.

CEO Joseph Franell said about 200 homes in Hermiston and Umatilla’s Main Street are already hooked up, with a second phase of 550 homes in the works. The new Internet speeds, which can download an entire high-definition movie in 36 seconds, will help fill a demand for more Internet capacity that Franell said has skyrocketed in the last six years.

“Anyone who is at all connected understands the voracious appetite for connectivity,” Franell said.

More and more people are using the Internet to watch television and play games, but Franell said it’s about more than just entertainment. The fiber broadband will improve residents’ ability to do everything from paying bills to taking college courses online. It will also increase efficiency for businesses and government entities that spend all day uploading and downloading data.

Franell said once the project is done, all of Hermiston, as well as the commercial corridor of Umatilla, Irrigon and Boardman, will have better Internet connectivity than Portland and Salem. He said when Google Fiber rolled out fiber connectivity in Kansas City the prices of homes connected to the lightning-fast Internet increased by 17 percent and business start-ups flocked to the area.

“When you start looking for economic development in the region, robust telecommunications is certainly going to help our economy continue to grow,” he said.

Eastern Oregon Telecom was created by Umatilla Electric Cooperative about 13 years ago to help the community, and Franell said the company is as focused on serving the community as it is on profits. That’s why it is reinvesting so much revenue into cutting-edge technology for the Hermiston area.

EOT is working with a Texas-based tech company called Huawei to create the infrastructure (known as Gigabit Passive Optical Network) necessary to bring Internet speeds of 1,000 mbps to the area.

Bill Gerski, Vice President of Sales for Huawei USA, said in a news release that the company was excited to bring its technology to the Hermiston area.

“Rural communities in America, which are typically under-served by broadband, are beginning to recognize the economic and social benefits of having fast and reliable connectivity,” he said. “Huawei is committed to working with rural carriers and communities across the U.S. to help them get connected.”

Mayor David Drotzmann said in a statement that the high speed Internet will expand educational and economic opportunities in the area.

“Super-fast, reliable and affordable broadband connectivity is becoming increasingly important in helping our community and businesses stay competitive,” he said.

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Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536.