Linda Hardest
Cable company Midco takes a methodical approach to fiber build
Midco is a midwestern service provider that offers broadband via hybrid fiber coax (HFC), fiber-to-the-home, and fixed wireless access (FWA). The company serves 490,000 homes and businesses in 400 communities in Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Midco is doing greenfield fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) builds in new communities and to large multi-dwelling units. But in brownfields, it’s doing a mix, adding fiber deeper into neighborhoods, but also upgrading its cable plant.
Bountiful, Utah, builds a municipal broadband network
The city of Bountiful, Utah, with a population of around 45,000, plans to begin construction of a new municipal broadband network in August 2023. Bountiful has partnered with Utopia Fiber to install and operate the open-access network. The city-owned fiber network will provide gigabit speeds to residents and businesses who elect to participate.
Cable companies are likely to target out of footprint for BEAD opportunities
New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin says that cable operators will have a lot of opportunity to snag Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds for locations that are out of—but proximate to—their existing footprints.