Mediacom has completed a fiber-optic network expansion in rural Truesdale, Iowa, delivering phone plans and download speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second with a focus on low-cost accessibility.
Truesdale is the tenth community that Mediacom, the fifth largest cable operator in the U.S., has constructed through collaboration with the Empower Iowa Rural Broadband Grant Program. Over the past several years, the operator has expanded its fiber network to over 1,400 locations in rural Iowa through that public-private partnership.
Additionally, Mediacom will offer Connect2Compete-Plus in Truesdale, which delivers 100 Mbps download speeds for $30 per month to eligible community members. It also participates in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) that can provide $30 per household for internet connectivity, so those eligible for both programs will be able to access service for no cost.
For the most part, affordable internet service has been “particularly scarce” in rural and low-income areas.
The new network in Truesdale, a town with "approximately 50 homes and businesses," will leverage Nokia’s XGS-PON systems and equipment, a Mediacom representative confirmed with Fierce Telecom.
Earlier this month it was announced that Nokia’s XGS-PON systems and equipment will help Mediacom provide multi-gigabit broadband service in new locations across its 22-state footprint. Mediacom at the time said it will harness Nokia's passive optical network (PON) technology especially for the deployment of fiber networks in rural, underserved communities.
Mediacom’s expansion in Iowa aligns with its broader objective to make a mark in the fiber sector, responding to the industry-wide shift from legacy cable and DSL to fiber technologies.
While it currently delivers broadband to 3.3 million homes and businesses across 22 states, the majority of the operator’s existing systems are hybrid-fiber-coax (HFC). But Mediacom has been deploying FTTH in greenfield projects for several years, SVP Tom Larsen told Fierce earlier this month.
“We also have a long history of building fiber solutions for enterprise and commercial clients,” he said.
According to Larsen, Mediacom has another large project underway in Iowa to upgrade its HFC plant to the new 10G platform that will soon be expanding into other markets, and active FTTH greenfield projects in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Minnesota with plans to reach about 25,000 new homes and businesses.
With a deluge of federal subsidies flowing into the market, Mediacom is actively in pursuit of broadband expansion grants across its footprint and has “dozens of pending applications across multiple states currently,” Larsen said. “We hope to be adding tens of thousands of new homes and businesses to our construction pipeline in the coming year.”