The Buildout: Lumos pours another $150M into Ohio fiber expansionThe Buildout: Lumos pours another $150M into Ohio fiber expansion

Lumos will start construction in 2025 to bring its fiber network to Stark County, Ohio. According to a press release, the $150 million project will see Lumos deploy 2,000 miles of fiber in the region. Stark County represents the third recent investment Lumos has made in Ohio, following a $110 million planned expansion into Summit County, and a $230 million investment in the Mahoning Valley. In April, T-Mobile confirmed plans to form a joint venture with EQT to acquire Lumos. The companies aim to expand Lumos' fiber network from roughly 320,000 locations to 3.5 million US locations by the end of 2028.

Conexon Connect – the ISP arm of fiber builder Conexon – has wrapped up its first fiber buildout in Florida, in partnership with Escambia River Electric Cooperative (EREC). The 2,000-mile network now reaches 12,000 EREC members located in the rural counties of Escambia and Santa Rosa. Work on the project began in early 2023. The EREC network marks Conexon Connect's sixth completed fiber network nationwide, according to a press release.

Surf Internet recently broke ground on a $5.5 million network buildout in Peru, Indiana. The fiber network will ultimately connect 4,275 homes and businesses; initially offering up to 2 Gbit/s and ultimately planning to support 10 Gbit/s. The first phase of the project is expected to go live in December 2024, with construction to wrap up by mid-2026. In addition to grant funding, Surf Internet has investment funding from DigitalBridge, Bain Capital and Post Road Group.

Altafiber (Cincinnati Bell) will start construction in late 2025 to expand fiber throughout Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Specifically, the company plans to reach 43,000 addresses located in Richmond, Indiana; Carrollton, Kentucky; and Eaton, Greenville, Washington Court House and Wilmington, Ohio, according to a press release.

Charter's Spectrum launched services in multiple regions where it's building out with support from the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). That includes Cape Girardeau County, Missouri (800 locations); Town of Pacific, in Columbia County, Wisconsin (450 locations); and Moore County, North Carolina (4,560 locations). Additionally, Spectrum said it launched services for 1,000 homes and businesses in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, for which Spectrum was awarded $872,171 in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Project Funds, via the US Treasury Department, representing 24.05% of the total project cost.

Consolidated's Fidium Fiber has launched its services in parts of New Hampshire and Maine. In Bethlehem and Whitefield, New Hampshire, Fidium Fiber went live for 3,600 homes and businesses. And in Fairfield, Maine, Fidium launched for 4,200 homes and businesses. Also, in Brewer, Maine, Fidium Fiber said it will soon start construction to bring its services to 6,900 homes and businesses.

Ziply Fiber's services have launched for an initial 2,500 addresses in Pasco, Washington. The company is currently in the midst of a fiber construction project in the region that will ultimately serve more than 4,500 homes and businesses once complete "in the coming weeks." Ziply is in the process of being acquired by Canada's BCE.

GoNetspeed has completed construction in Granby, Massachusetts. The company started construction on the $2.4 million project earlier this year, and its services now reach 2,200 Granby homes and businesses. GoNetspeed is funded by Oak Hill Capital.

New Mexico this week awarded eight grants, totaling $15.4 million, to two municipalities and one ISP. The service provider, Resound Networks, picked up six of the eight grants, with the remaining two going to the Pueblos of Tesuque ($1.26 million) and Laguna ($4.86 million). In a press release, the state said the projects will connect more than 4,600 locations in unserved and underserved areas.