The Great Broadband Build: Consolidated to Bring Fiber to 57K New Hampshire Homes; Comcast to Expand 10G Network to 80K Texas Locations

In this latest Broadband Communities' Great Broadband Build issue, we’re tracking Comcast’s 10G build-out in Texas and Consolidated gets ready to deliver FTTH service to 57,000 New Hampshire homes.

Consolidated Communications Awarded $40 Million to Build Fiber to 57K New Hampshire Homes.
Consolidated Communications was awarded $40 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to build fiber to nearly 25,000 unserved homes throughout New Hampshire. Consolidated will invest its capital in bringing fiber to more than 32,000 additional homes. Upon completion, Consolidated’s project will provide fiber internet services to more than 57,000 homes across six counties. The unanimous vote to approve Consolidated’s grant occurred during the Feb. 22 New Hampshire Executive Council meeting. The N.H. Department of Business and Economic Affairs Office of Broadband Initiatives helped with funding from the federal ARPA and Capital Projects Fund. N.H. Office of Broadband Initiatives Grant will help fund fiber-to-the-home service to 37 towns in Carroll, Cheshire, Coos, Grafton, Hillsborough and Sullivan counties. Construction is expected to begin at the end of 2023 and be largely completed by 2024. Consolidated has partnered with 23 New Hampshire towns since 2018, building and delivering fiber connectivity to 32,750 homes. Since 2021, Consolidated has made fiber to more than 244,000 New Hampshire homes and small businesses.

Comcast to Expand 10G Network to 80K Texas Homes, Businesses
Comcast will expand its Xfinity 10G Network across several southeast Texas counties in 2023. The media company said it would invest over $100 million to install at least one thousand miles of new fiber facilities that will reach up to 80,000 homes and businesses by the end of this year. The planned expansions add to Comcast’s ongoing $2.8 billion investment in Texas over the last three years. Network expansion efforts will begin in Kingwood, Pinehurst, Prairie View, Waller, New Caney and Conroe. Construction will continue in other communities with ongoing network infrastructure builds in Houston. Comcast began building out service in Kingwood, the most significant expansion of the year; it is expected to be complete by the end of 2023 and reach nearly 24,000 Kingwood homes and businesses. These locations will have the foundational network to begin deploying DOCSIS 4.0, setting the stage for introducing new symmetrical multi-gigabit Internet options.

USDA Invests $63M to Bring Broadband to Parts of Four Midwest Rural States
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $63 million to bring broadband to people living and working in parts of rural areas in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Mississippi. The $63 million in grants comes from the third funding round of the ReConnect Program, in which USDA invested $1.7 billion. The four projects being funded are: McDonough Telephone Cooperative is receiving an $18 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network in Illinois to connect 1,583 people, 274 farms and 41 businesses to high-speed internet in Hancock, Henderson, McDonough and Warren counties; Alpha Enterprises Limited, Inc. is receiving a $19.5 million grant to deploy an FTTP network that will connect 1,023 people, 19 businesses and ten farms to high-speed internet in Chippewa and Mackinac counties in Michigan; Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative is receiving a $10 million grant to deploy an FTTP network in Minnesota that will connect 3,529 people, 71 businesses, 35 farms, and two public schools to high-speed internet in Hubbard, Itasca and St. Louis counties; Uplink Internet is receiving a $15 million grant to deploy an FTTP network in Mississippi that will connect 2,340 people, 143 farms, 45 businesses and a public school to high-speed internet in Coahoma, Quitman and Tunica counties.

MetaLINK Chooses Tarana’s ngFWA Solution to Bring Broadband to Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.
MetaLINK will bring high-speed broadband wireless internet to 23 Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana counties leveraging Tarana’s G1 ngFWA solution. MetaLINK first heard about Tarana G1 from other ISP operators while searching for a technology to improve its internet offerings and connect more homes and businesses in areas where it was not cost-effective to deploy fiber. After multiple reports that G1 achieved fiber-like speeds and subscriber counts per tower increase, they piloted Tarana’s solution in the spring of 2022. The provider’s initial G1 results yielded download speeds of up to 600 Mbps in line-of-sight (LoS) conditions at a 6-mile radius from the tower and 100 Mbps in non-line-of-sight (NLoS) conditions at distances up to 8 miles. These speeds are 5–6x faster than MetaLINK previously achieved in the exact locations, enabling them to connect customers despite hills and dense woods around their homes. MetaLINK’s first G1 network went live last November in Putnam County, Ohio — a result of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding they were awarded for bringing broadband service to the Putnam County community. They plan to do the same for Williams County, Ohio, where the locals’ current service options are limited to DSL with 1-3 Mbps. With G1, MetaLINK will offer up to 200 Mbps plans. MetaLINK plans to add 20 G1 towers across 23 counties in the tri-state area this year, ultimately passing 200,000 homes.

WOW! Adds First Fiber Internet Customers in Headland, Alabama
WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone has added its first customers in Headland, Alabama. WOW! customers in Headland now have access to WOW!'s fiber network with multi-gigabit speeds. This fiber Edge-out into Headland will enable WOW! to bring its high-speed Internet and exceptional services to even more regional customers. It offers additional choice and flexibility for area residents and businesses. WOW! It already provides services to nearby Dothan, Alabama and several other cities in Alabama. Headland residents can now sign up for WOW! services, which include symmetrical Internet speeds up to 5 Gbps.

Point Broadband Secures Investment from Berkshire Partners
Point Broadband Fiber, a fiber-based internet provider to residential and business customers in select small towns and rural markets, will receive an investment from Berkshire Partners. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Opelika, Alabama, Point Broadband serves approximately 75,000 customers and growing, primarily in rural areas and small city communities in nine states. The company is backed by GTCR, a leading private equity firm, which invested strategically in the business in 2021. Since then, Point Broadband Fiber has added over 100,000 fiber passings and entered two new states.

GoNetspeed Completes Fiber Construction in Three Connecticut Towns
GoNetspeed completed building its fiber-based broadband network in Vernon, including Rockville and South Windsor, Connecticut. Through GoNetspeed’s $6.5 million investment, residents and businesses throughout Vernon, Rockville, and South Windsor can now experience high-speed, symmetrical upload and download internet speeds directly from their homes or business. With construction complete, more than 7,600 locations throughout 87 miles now have access to GoNetspeed’s fiber internet service. Residents and businesses interested may visit gonetspeed.com to confirm service availability for their site and to sign up for service installation. Currently, over 30 communities across 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.

Grady EMC, Conexon Connect to Bring Broadband to Southwest Rural Georgia Homes and Businesses
Grady EMC has selected Conexon Connect to deliver fiber internet access for rural Georgians living and working in the cooperative's service area. Grady EMC and Conexon Connect will launch and deploy a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Grady County, where the co-op received American Rescue Plan Act funding. Additional funding will be sought to enable the partners to expand fiber broadband access to all of Grady EMC's 13,000 members across Grady, Decatur and Thomas counties. The fiber network will offer members access to symmetrical multi-gigabit internet capabilities. Additionally, it will provide phone service and enable smart grid capabilities to the electrical infrastructure, including improved power outage response times, better load balancing and more efficient electricity delivery.

STELLAR Broadband Extends Service to Northern Michigan
STELLAR Broadband, a fiber internet provider serving multi-tenant communities in the Great Lakes region, has contracted with DTN Management to deliver gigabit Internet to their new development of luxury townhomes in Traverse City, Michigan, Bayview of Traverse City. Located in northwest Michigan, Bayview of Traverse City offers 216 rental units of 2 and 3-bedroom luxury townhome living with attached garages and one and 2-bedroom apartment options. STELLAR today serves 139 communities totaling over 10,000 residents with a wide range of technology solutions, from managed Wi-Fi, TV, and access control to security.

Metronet Declares East Moline, Ill. As Certified Gigabit City
Metronet has officially declared East Moline a Certified Gigabit City Powered by Metronet after the company’s multi-gigabit fiber network became accessible to most households and businesses throughout the city. The provider has installed more than 90 miles of fiber optic internet throughout East Moline, bringing multi-gigabit speeds to residents and businesses as the company continues to expand from its initial build plan. Metronet began construction in East Moline in 2020 and is rapidly growing to create more Certified Gigabit Cities Powered by Metronet. Certification as a Certified Gigabit City Powered by Metronet is earned once most households and business locations can access Metronet’s 1 Gbps symmetrical fiber internet speeds. The number of families is based on the total Households (2016-2020), and the number of business locations is based on the total All firms (2017) from the U.S. Census Bureau.

York County Commissioners Finalize Agreement to Build Fiber Broadband Network
York County, Pennsylvania Commissioners finalized an agreement with Lit Fiber to provide broadband internet service through underserved and underserved areas of rural York County and eventually through the city itself. The project will use up to 3,125 miles of aerial and underground fiber cable to feed off a 333-mile middle-mile network to provide last-mile service to communities where customer density needs to be higher to justify the private capital investment in such service expansion. That will begin with 26 miles installed underneath the York Heritage Rail Trail – including the communities of Seven Valleys, Glen Rock, Railroad, and New Freedom – completed using CARES Act funding. This initial project will enable fiber connectivity to approximately 3,000 locations. A county-owned middle-mile network covering 144 miles across much of Southern York County will follow, enabling fiber connectivity to about 100,000 sites. The middle mile network, YoCo Fiber, is planned to extend up to 333 miles and allow fiber connectivity to approximately 225,000 locations.

Lit Communities launched this project in July 2021 to partner with York County leaders on the estimated $285 million project – to design and guide the construction of the first two phases. Another new Lit Communities affiliate – Lit Fiber - York – will serve as the ISP when service begins rolling out in the fourth quarter of 2023. The initial project is expected to be completed in two years, with the other expansions working in parallel. York County Commissioners have approved using up to $25 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act infrastructure funds. The rest of the funding comes from revenue sharing, other public funding sources, and private investment by Lit Communities and its partners.

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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