Service providers are rapidly building broadband in communities nationwide via fiber, existing coax and wireless. The Great Broadband Build is a weekly roundup of the latest broadband network deployments.
You can send news directly to Sean Buckley, Editor in Chief of Broadband Communities, at sean@bbcmag.com. Stay abreast of each installment of The Great Broadband Build here.
Consolidated Secures $17M for Rural Maine Fiber Network Build
Consolidated Communications will bring its Fidium fiber to the home (FTTH service to more than 15,800 homes and businesses in rural Maine, funded partly with two grants totaling nearly $17 million from Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA). Consolidated partnered with Skowhegan, Madison, Cornville and Canaan towns to apply for MCA’s Connect the Ready grant program. The program encourages proactive partnerships and collaborative efforts to design, fund and build universal broadband service to primarily underserved and unserved communities in Maine. The grant awarded will provide $8.8 million to reach 12,500 homes.
MCA’s Reach Me line extension grant program incentivizes providers to extend their existing fiber network to all unserved locations in the area. Consolidated worked with the Greater East Grand Region Economic Council and was awarded $8.1 million in funding to extend FTTH internet service to 3,300 homes and small businesses in Bancroft, Brookton, Danforth, Drew Plantation, Glenwood Plantation, Haynesville, Forest, Forest City, Orient, Reed Plantation, and Weston, Maine. Consolidated has brought fiber internet to 147,000 homes and small businesses since 2021; in addition to these recent awards, Consolidated and MCA collaborated on an $18.3 million grant from NTIA to build FTTH to more than 22,000 homes and businesses in the Blue Hill Peninsula, the Rangeley area and the town of Farmington. Those projects are scheduled to be completed by spring 2023.
Comporium, York Electric Complete Second Phase of Fiber Network Build
Comporium and York Electric’s (YEC) partnership continues to bear fruit, as the pair has been delivering broadband to over 3,800 electric cooperative members. In July 2021, Comporium and YEC announced their collaboration to build a fiber network in western York and parts of Cherokee counties in South Carolina. This network, under construction now, offers internet speeds up to 1Gbps, where DSL or satellite service was once the only choice. The partnership’s third phase of the network build is underway and will complete the promised fiber Internet services for 5,000 unserved cooperative members. Potential new customers will receive communications from Comporium and YEC regarding this unique service opportunity and how to sign up as it becomes available in their area.
Tachus Fiber Internet Begins Expansion into Humble, Huffman, and Huntsville, Texas
Tachus Fiber Internet, a The Woodlands, Texas-based fiber internet provider, has begun network installation projects in North Houston communities Humble, Huffman, and Huntsville. The Texas-based Internet provider plans to install a 10 Gbps, symmetrical, fiber-to-the-premises network to serve residential and commercial customers in Humble, Huffman and Huntsville, TX. Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2023, with plans to light the first customers as early as June 2023. Tachus has grown rapidly over the last four years to offer broadband services to nearly 30,000 customers in North Houston communities: Atascocita, Conroe, Kingwood, Porter, Willis and The Woodlands. The local provider recently announced that over 100,000 homes passed with its fiber network. Tachus is leveraging its 2,000-plus mile underground fiber network to provide service using redundant pathways, ensuring reliability and a consistent user experience.
GoNetSpeed Readies FTTH Network in Clinton and Westbrook, Conn.
Residents and businesses throughout the Towns of Clinton and Westbrook, Connecticut, will soon have access to GoNetspeed’s fiber internet. Through GoNetspeed’s privately funded $4.5 million investment in Clinton and Westbrook, more than 7,300 locations will have access to fiber internet as early as this summer, with construction beginning this spring. Residents and businesses interested in GoNetspeed services may visit gonetspeed.com to indicate interest and receive construction updates. GoNetspeed continues to ensure that more communities throughout Connecticut have access to a fiber internet infrastructure. Currently, over 30 communities throughout the state have access to GoNetspeed’s service, along with many communities that are well on their way to having access to GoNetspeed’s fiber internet.
IQ Fiber Begins Neptune Beach, Fla. Fiber Network Build
IQ Fiber will soon deploy its fiber network in Neptune Beach, Florida. The investment to connect the city’s residents is estimated at more than $10 million and complements IQ Fiber’s network deployment in the adjacent towns of Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville Beach. IQ Fiber will begin constructing the network immediately, with a primary connection through all the beach communities along A1A/Third Street. Atlantic Beach’s network was activated in late 2022, and network construction is underway in Jacksonville Beach. The Neptune Beach project will start serving its first customers by the summer of 2023. IQ Fiber is focused on rapidly expanding its residential fiber network across Clay, Duval and Nassau.
All West Communications to Expand Fiber Network to North Ogden, UT
All West Communications plans to expand its fiber internet, streaming TV service, and digital phone solutions to North Ogden, Utah residents. The expansion will include more than 113 miles of fiber and duct and will provide services to over 7,750 homes and businesses in North Ogden. All West Communications is constructing its network through private funding at no cost to North Ogden City.
Metronet Enhances Grand Rapids Service Reach
Metronet is expanding its fiber service throughout Grand Rapids, with construction having officially begun on the expansion project. Upon completing Metronet’s developed construction plan, Grand Rapids will join the country’s internet elite as a Certified Gigabit City. Construction has begun near the intersection of Michigan Street NE and Beltline Avenue NE. It will work to rapidly provide connectivity throughout the community, with the first customers in the expanded footprint expected to be connected by the summer of 2023. As construction progresses, customers may sign up for presale to indicate their interest and prioritize service installation once available. Those interested in Metronet services may visit construction.Metronet.com to be notified once their address is available for installation and to access presale information. As construction progresses, residents will begin to see Metronet trucks throughout the area. Residents will receive communication by mail about construction activity in their neighborhood 30 days before starting. Additional messaging, such as yard signs, will also be provided to notify residents of when construction is beginning in their area. Metronet crews are identified by ID tags and branded Metronet vehicles.
Dobson Fiber Launches Fiber Network in Marlow, Okla.
Marlow, Okla. residents get a new internet access choice as Dobson Fiber completes a multi-million dollar expansion of its fiber internet offering. Both residential and business customers can now order service from Dobson. The service provider began this multi-million-dollar project to build a fiber network throughout Marlow in the Summer of 2022, and it is ready to take orders. Dobson Fiber currently offers residential fiber internet services in nine Oklahoma communities, including Atoka, Duncan, Enid, Lawton, McLoud, Newalla, Panama, Shady Point, Taloga, Vici, Waurika and Weatherford in Oklahoma. Dobson Fiber provides residential fiber internet services in Booneville, Lavaca and Ozark, Arkansas. Dobson Fiber has additional community commitments to announce soon. Maple Broadband plans to lay more than 100 miles of fiber in 2023. Service is coming later this year to other parts of Cornwall and Salisbury, the majority of Shoreham, portions of Orwell and Whiting, and a small corner of northwest Leicester.
Maple Broadband Connects First Customers to Fiber Broadband Network
Vermont provider Maple Broadband has hooked up its first customers to its new fiber internet service and has launched service in its initial build area. The provider’s initial build area comprises 25.7 miles and 304 passings in Cornwall, Middlebury, and Salisbury. Nine customers were connected during its soft launch. Sixty-two more people have already signed up for service and will be joined next. Maple Broadband’s partnership with Waitsfield Telecom has enabled the provider to install fiber in portions of Salisbury, with more to follow. Salisbury Select Board Chair Paul Vaczy said in a release that “the donation of $30,000 from the town’s ARPA allocation increases our commitment to the mission of high-speed internet to all homes and businesses in Salisbury.”
Related: The Great Broadband Build
Sean Buckley, Editor in Chief of Broadband Communities and the host of the Broadband Ripple Podcast.
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