The Buildout: Comcast, Verizon and more get Maryland broadband grants

The Lowndes County, Georgia, board of commissioners has approved a deal with Windstream to construct a $40 million fiber-optic network, according to local reports. Funding sources include $21.7 million in state funding through the American Rescue Plan, and $17.6 million in matching funds from Windstream. The project is expected to connect 16,193 homes and 1,434 businesses, covering an estimated 96% of the county's unserved census blocks, with a projected completion timeline of December 2024.

Blackfoot Communications announced it will invest a total of $76 million ($60 million in state grants and $16 million of its own funding) to build out fiber broadband in rural Montana. The company, which received seven grants through Montana's ConnectMT program to connect four counties, will start construction this spring. The project will be completed by 2026, according to a press release. Blackfoot received its awards in ConnectMT's first round of grants announced last December, which provided $309 million for 61 projects covering "62,000 families, small businesses, farms, and ranches," the state said at the time. The ConnectMT program was first established in 2021 with $275 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan.

TDS Telecommunications started construction last week on its fiber network in Altoona, Wisconsin, which is projected to reach 4,000+ addresses. In a press release, TDS said construction activity consists of "burying conduit and cable in public easement areas, as well as installing fiber connections to locations included in the build footprint." With service set to turn on "gradually," TDS said it expects to connect the first Altoona customers before the end of this year. The network will ultimately deliver up to 8 Gbit/s symmetrical residential service and up to 10 Gbit/s symmetrical business service, according to the company.

United Communications and Middle Tennessee Electric will collaborate on a $13 million fiber network expansion in rural parts of Wilson County, Tennessee. The network, which is expected to go live by the end of this year, will ultimately reach 11,000 homes and businesses, said a press release about the project. According to United Communications, the companies received $2.5 million in federal and local grants, and it will devote $3 million to connect the regions of Mt. Juliet and Lebanon, with "every major data center in Middle Tennessee to benefit the region's growing business community."

Lumos will spend over $56 million to expand fiber in North Carolina, the company said this week. According to an announcement, Lumos will start engineering work in mid-2023 to build out 655 miles of fiber in parts of New Hanover County and Wilmington, North Carolina. The company currently services over 200,000 locations in North Carolina and Virginia. The news follows last week's announcement that Lumos will invest $60 million to build out an additional 706 miles of fiber to reach Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

Pavlov Media has started construction to deliver fiber in Fisher, Illinois, the company said this week. Once complete, the fiber network is expected to deliver broadband service to roughly 900 homes and businesses. Pavlov Media, which provides broadband to multi-dwelling units (MDUs) and off-campus student housing through landlord agreements, recently received an investment from Macquarie Asset Management. The investment will help support Pavlov's fiber builds in new and existing markets and its expanding MDU presence, said the companies. (The firms did not disclose the sum of the investment.)

FirstLight expanded its fiber network in parts of rural Maine, the company said this week. According to FirstLight, it added another 100 miles of new fiber infrastructure to the Maine towns of Hebron and Sumner. The company estimates that approximately 300 locations in Hebron can now access fiber broadband, with more going live as FirstLight continues construction. FirstLight, which serves six states, also said in a press release that it is applying for federal grants in hopes of accelerating its fiber builds throughout and beyond its existing service territories.

Unite Private Networks (UPN) will expand its fiber network into Augusta, Georgia, the company said this week. According to a press release, UPN will build out nearly 90 miles of fiber, "yielding over 5,200 serviceable buildings." The company, which provides high-bandwidth services to enterprise customers, carriers and data centers, as well as schools, governments and hospitals, said it will supply capacity to UPN's core network via a new network hub in Augusta.

Shentel's Glo Fiber announced that it launched 5 Gbit/s symmetrical service across all its markets. According to the company, that includes 147,000 homes across Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

Brightspeed this week announced that it is "officially selling gig service" across its new fiber network in six states. The company will now provide symmetrical gigabit service on its newly launched XGS-PON fiber network to homes and businesses in parts of Alabama, Indiana, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, it said in a press release. According to Brightspeed, this represents the first phase of its buildout, with more locations coming online "weekly." Brightspeed aims to reach 1 million homes and businesses by the end of 2023.