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Connectivity has been extended to nearly 4,000 locations in rural Minnesota as part of a public-private partnership with the state, Mediacom says.
Edited by Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
Mediacom Communications said Tuesday it has finished 12 fiber broadband projects across Minnesota ahead of schedule, adding more than 400 miles of last‑mile fiber and bringing service to roughly 3,900 homes and businesses. The company, also known as Mediacom, described the work as a two‑year effort carried out in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), with a combined public‑private investment of more than $24 million.
Company officials said about 90% of the new fiber miles were laid in some of Minnesota’s hardest‑to‑serve areas, including the Iron Range in the state’s north.
Mediacom reported it invested more than $13 million of private capital and used $11 million in DEED grant funding; the carrier also said it leveraged those projects to extend service to an additional 1,600 locations using private dollars.
“Through this public‑private collaboration, thousands of additional Minnesotans now have access to reliable, high‑speed broadband that can be truly life changing,” said Chris Lord, Mediacom’s senior director of government partnership opportunities.
DEED’s executive director, Bree Maki, who recently appeared on our Beyond the Cable podcast, framed the buildouts as part of a larger push to close Minnesota’s connectivity gaps.
“Partnerships like this are exactly what it takes to reach the hardest‑to‑serve places in Minnesota,” she said in the company statement, adding that broadband is the infrastructure people rely on for work, school, health care, and civic participation.
Mediacom, a cable operator that serves more than 3 million households and businesses across 22 states, presented the Minnesota work as part of its wider strategy of bringing gigabit broadband to smaller markets in the Midwest and Southeast.
Some AI tools assisted in the crafting of this report.
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