Once it has the green light to start construction, Brightspeed will begin the process of bringing fiber broadband to 150,000 homes in Wisconsin. The first phase of the multi-year project aims to bring fiber broadband to 70,000 addresses in 15 counties by the end of next year.
The first phase will bring service to Ashland, Bayfield, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Douglas, Grant, Green Lake, Jackson, La Crosse, Lafayette, Marinette, Monroe, Outagamie and Sauk counties.
The deployments, as with others announced in recent weeks by Brightspeed, are dependent upon the completion of the acquisition of cerrtain assets from Lumen Technologies by Apollo managed funds. The company has approval in the 20 states in which it plans to acquire assets. FCC approval is expected this quarter and the finalization of the deal is expected early in the fourth quarter.
The closing of the deal will bring 21,000 existing fiber-enabled addresses in Wisconsin to Brightspeed.
“To augment our initial build plans and help make fiber-based internet a reality for even more customers, we have been evaluating areas for consideration for Wisconsin’s broadband infrastructure initiatives,” Sherry Hessenthaler, the Operations Strategy Lead for Brightspeed, said in a press release. “We’re excited to have received a sizable grant under the state’s Broadband Expansion Grant Program, and we look forward to pursuing future federal and state broadband grant opportunities.”
Brightspeed says it will spend at least $2 billion to bring service to as many as 3 million homes over the next five years. The deployments are based on XGS-PON architecture and include Wi-Fi 6.
Other recent announcements:
- Earlier this month, the company said it will bring fiber service to 310,000 addresses in Missouri during the next few years, with 130,000 of those will be completed by the end of next year.
- Also in July, Brightspeed said that it will pass 28,000 addresses in Louisiana during the next several years, with half of them completed by the end of next year.
- In May, Brightspeed said it would pass 130,000 addresses in Virginia during the next few years, with 60,000 of those completed by the end of 2023.
- Two days earlier, Brightspeed said it would pass 800,000 homes and businesses in its home state of North Carolina, with 300,000 of those passings completed by the end of next year.
Brightspeed plans to pass 1 million addresses by the end of 2023.
