Consolidated Communications’ (NASDAQ: CNSL) Fidium Fiber has begun fiber to the premises (FTTP) technology deployments in several Vermont communities. FTTP construction has begun in Bennington County and should launch soon in the towns of Dover and Wilmington.
Overall, the fiber roll outs should make Fidium Fiber services available to approximately 20,000 homes on the way to Consolidated’s goal of 200,000 Vermont homes by the end of 2025.
RDOF funding in play
As reported by Broadband Technology Report's Stephen Hardy, the Bennington County FTTP expansion will see fiber passing 12,000 addresses before this fall. The deployment is being conducted in partnership with Southern Vermont Communications Union District (CUD), which represents 14 communities in the county.
Consolidated will partially fund the initial deployments, with a subsidy from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) helping to address 400 of the 12,000 homes that are considered unserved in and around Bennington and Shaftsbury.
Consolidated and the CUD expect the partnership ultimately will result in universal fiber access across the county.
Closing the digital divide
Meanwhile, Fidium Fiber will be available to more than 7,000 homes in the Wilmington and Dover areas by the end of this year, Consolidated states. This deployment also will bring FTTP to approximately 400 homes without high-speed internet access.
"Access to reliable high-speed internet has been recognized as one of the largest needs of our residents and second homeowners, especially in recent years,” said Eric Durocher, economic development director for the Town of Dover, Vt. “As our community has continued to grow, the need for expanded options has only been magnified. Throughout the conversations on the topic, it became quite clear that the only viable long-term solution would be high-speed fiber internet to as many areas of the Town as possible. We are extremely excited to see this finally become a reality for our community."