Consolidated Communications has made the Fidium symmetrical all-fiber broadband service available to 41,000 homes in eastern Maine.
The communities are Augusta, Biddeford, Falmouth, Rockland, and Waterville. The company also says that construction is underway in Lisbon Falls, where 6,000 homes will gain access to the service in the coming weeks.
“I’m really excited for folks to experience Fidium Fiber internet,” Erik Garr, president of the consumer and small business at Consolidated Communications, said in a press release. “Fidium is on its way to becoming the largest fiber provider in all of Maine, and we’re excited to be making so much progress in closing the digital divide.”
Fidium Fiber prices start at $35 per month, with discounts available through the Affordable Connectivity Plan and Lifeline Broadband Discount. The offerings include whole-home Wi-Fi 6. Customers also have the option of adding VoIP home phone service, and streaming TV services.
Fidium’s previous announcement in Maine was in mid-July when the company said that construction in Bangor was nearly complete and that more than 24,000 homes had access to service. At the time, the company said that it would bring services to 150,000 addresses in Maine this year.
In addition to Maine, Fidium is available in California, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Vermont.
Parent company Consolidated Communications reported its quarterly results early last month. The company said that it added 9,600 fiber broadband subscribers during the second quarter of the year, which was more than three times the additions of the previous year. Consolidated now has more than 103,000 fiber connections across its footprint. It had 77,000 a year ago. The company had its first positive net broadband adds for a quarter for the first time in more than seven years.
In late June, Consolidated said that it can deliver symmetrical 2 Gbps service across the entire Fidium footprint.
In early March Connect Maine got an $18.3 million grant from the Broadband Infrastructure Program (BIP). That funding, combined with a Consolidated Communications investment of $5.5 million, is enabling fiber to be provided to more than 22,000 homes and businesses on Blue Hill Peninsula, in the Rangeley area and in the town of Farmington, the company said. The BIP is a program from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
