TDS Telecommunications and the city of Janesville, Wisconsin have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on plans to build a symmetrical 2 Gbps FTTH network.
The network will reach about 30,000 addresses. In addition to connectivity, the network will offer residences TV+ and phone services. Business will have access to dedicated connections offering speeds as fast as 10 Gbps and telecom services.
TDS is no stranger to Janesville. The company has offered “communications solutions” there for more than 20 years, according to a press release.
The service will be rolled out in phases, with the first customers gaining access before the end of the year.
“Janesville has always been a center for both commerce and outdoor activities in Southeast Wisconsin,” Drew Petersen, senior vice president of External Affairs at TDS, said in a press release. “We’re proud to make this substantial investment in the community’s future by bringing the dependable, high-quality fiber connections residents and businesses need for today and tomorrow.”
Janesville could turn into a bit of a broadband battleground. In February, Metronet said that it will build an all-fiber multi-gig capable FTTH network to residential and business customers in the city. Construction was expected to take two years and to begin this summer.
TDS, which is headquartered in Madison, has made a number of announcements in Wisconsin. Last December, it said that it had broken ground on the construction of a network that will reach more than 43,000 addresses in Green Bay, Bellevue and Ashwaubenon and almost 15,000 in Suamico, Howard and Hobart.
In November, the company announced plans to build a 2 Gbps network service to almost 12,000 addresses in Onalaska and Sparta.
In mid-October, TDS was awarded more than $2 million for two projects by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, which dispersed funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. The projects are in Potosi (which awarded TDS $943,333) and Necedah ($1,088,791). In all 83 projects were selected from 242 applications.
