Building Broadband: C Spire expands Jackson County, Miss. reach; Ezee Fiber takes on New Mexico

C Spire expands Jackson County, Miss. fiber network
C Spire is expanding its fiber network in Jackson County. Over 1,700 residents in Pascagoula and more than 500 residents in Moss Point will soon have the option for C Spire’s ultra-fast fiber. C Spire trucks and crews will be in Pascagoula neighborhoods over the next 6-8 months and in Moss Point neighborhoods over the next 18 months. Fiber construction is underway in two neighborhoods in Pascagoula and Moss Point. 

Ezee Fiber dedicates $250M to New Mexico fiber broadband network
Ezee Fiber is lighting fiber broadband services in New Mexico, extending its geographic footprint beyond Texas. The service provider will deliver multi-gig fiber internet to residential and business customers in Albuquerque, the state's largest city and surrounding communities. Engineering and construction are underway, and the company expects customer installations to begin in September. The expansion represents the first phase of Ezee Fiber's strategic plan to extend its network across multiple states and geographies. Also, Ezee Fiber will create over 350 employment opportunities for construction personnel, installation technicians, and sales, marketing, and community engagement associates.

Fidium connects Bar Harbor, Maine, with gigabit fiber broadband
Fidium Fiber is now available to more than 4,600 homes and businesses in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert, Maine. The expansion of Fidium’s all-fiber fiber network empowers residents to enjoy the educational, employment, economic and community benefits of symmetrical multi-gig internet access. Today, over 260,000 Maine homes and businesses have access to Fidium, with additional availability coming soon throughout the state.

Kinetic commits $250K to upgrade tornado-ravaged Greenfield, Iowa, with fiber
Due to the extensive damage done by a tornado on May 21, 2024, across Adair County, Kinetic is investing $250,000 to replace destroyed communications infrastructure with a buried fiber optic solution. This effort will bring more than 28,500 feet (about 5.4 miles) of new fiber to more than 320 Greenfield locations. There is no cost to the state, the county, Greenfield, or Kinetic customers. This investment will add 10,600 feet (about 2 miles) of Kinetic fiber cable. Kinetic's Iowa-based fiber network, about 12,400 miles, is 16 times larger than the total length of Iowa's 782 miles of federal interstates.

LiveOak Fiber raises $250M to expand Southeast fiber network
LiveOak Fiber has secured $250 million in financing underwritten by J.P. Morgan, bolstering its efforts to bring fiber-based broadband to underserved communities into new and existing Southeastern communities. Southeast United States. Since its founding in June 2022, LiveOak has grown into a regional network operator serving business and residential customers in Bay, Okaloosa, Walton Counties, Florida, Camden, Chatham, and Glynn Counties, Georgia. The company has completed 50% of its Georgia and Florida network builds as of May 2024. This includes deploying more than $200 million in investment to date, constructing and lighting more than 1,000 miles of fiber, and unlocking access to educational resources, telehealth services, and economic opportunities previously out of reach in these areas.

Massachusetts Healey-Driscoll Administration doles out $45M grant to expand statewide broadband availability
The Healey-Driscoll Administration, in partnership with Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's (MassTech) Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI), awarded $45.4 million in grants through the state’s Broadband Infrastructure Gap Networks Program, a program funded through the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund that aims to expand high-speed broadband internet infrastructure to underserved homes, business, and community anchor institutions across the state.

The grant recipients include Comcast, Greenfield Community Energy and Technology, Spectrum Northeast LLC, and Verizon. Recipients will use the grants and more than $40 million in matching funds to deploy high-speed internet lines to approximately 2,000 locations in 41 Massachusetts communities without broadband access. The four awardees selected in the first round will work with MBI to validate the unserved and underserved location count included in each grantee’s proposal. 

Metronet sets Plymouth, Minn as its next fiber broadband target
Residents and businesses in Plymouth, Minnesota, will soon have access to Metronet’s fiber internet service. With a $30 million investment from Metronet, Plymouth will become part of Metronet’s expanding Minnesota network, offering speeds of up to 5 Gbps for homes and up to 10 Gbps for businesses. Construction is set to begin this summer, with the first customers expected to be connected by the fall of 2024. Once construction commences, Plymouth residents will see Metronet trucks throughout the area. Residents will receive communication by mail about construction activity in their neighborhood 30 days before starting.

Mountain Parks Electric selects Conexon Connect to deliver broadband to its rural Colorado territory
Conexon Connect has been selected by Granby, Co.-based Mountain Parks Electric (MPE) to deliver fiber internet access to members across its Colorado territory, including homes and businesses in Grand and Jackson counties and parts of Larimer, Routt and Summit counties. The Conexon Connect network will deliver fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) internet service access across 4,000 square miles of Rocky Mountain terrain to reach over 18,000 MPE members. The relationship with MPE expands Conexon Connect's footprint in Colorado, marking the second cooperative collaboration in the state. In 2021, Conexon Connect announced a partnership with Mountain View Electric Association to serve its members. With the current Colorado projects, Conexon Connect will reach nearly 75,000 Coloradans with access to multi-gigabit-speed internet service. MPE began work on its middle-mile fiber network in 2019 to connect its substations and in-line electrical devices, completed in 2023. Conexon is leasing the excess fiber from MPE’s middle mile network as part of its planned FTTH build-out.

Optimum completes Bishop, California network upgrade
Optimum has completed upgrades to its regional network and infrastructure. Area residents and businesses can now access internet speeds of up to 500 Mbps in Bishop, California. This network enhancement follows the company's introduction of its new brand platform and marketing campaign, Where local is big time, to customers across its 21-state footprint. The new platform centers on Optimum’s ability to combine a large national provider's reach and connectivity resources with a small business's localized care and support to cater to each community's unique connectivity needs.

Seimitsu lights fiber broadband in three Georgia Coastal Communities
Savannah, Ga.-based service provider Seimitsu is rolling out residential broadband in Isle of Hope, Dutch Island, and Sandfly neighborhoods using Ciena’s XGS-PON solution. Located a short drive from the historic city of Savannah, the waterfront communities are renowned for their scenic beauty and laid-back lifestyle, offering inhabitants a unique haven for those seeking a balance of tranquility and activity. Seimitsu’s residential broadband network is powered by Ciena’s 5164 Routers, XGS-PON uOLTs (micro-optical line terminals), and 3802 ONUs (optical network units). The residential broadband traffic will transit Seimitsu’s all-underground fiber network across Chatham County and Atlanta. TrueConnX Home service to the three communities will be live in late summer 2024 and will pass around 2,300 homes. Seimitsu isn’t stopping there, though. The company plans to pass 24,000 homes in Chatham County as it expands throughout the Low Country.

TDS completes Niota, Tenn fiber broadband network build
TDS Telecom recently invited the city of Niota, Tennessee, to celebrate the completion of its all-fiber network upgrade. The telco marked the milestone with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Athens Chamber of Commerce and local dignitaries. TDS also provided free food and presented $1,000 checks to the Niota Volunteer Fire Department and the Niota Youth Association. The company’s data infrastructure project delivers a range of internet speeds up to 8 Gbps symmetrical, starting at up to 300 Mbps for residential customers and up to 10 Gig dedicated connections for local businesses.

If you want to share a new broadband build, contact Sean Buckley, Editor in Chief of Lightwave+BTR, at [email protected].