TDS Telecom announced it has begun construction to expand and improve broadband to nearly 700 locations in Ohio and Mississippi.
In Ohio, 208 locations near the Butlerville and Fayetteville communities are slated for the expansion, as well as nearly 500 locations in Myrtle, Miss.
TDS says construction is expected to be completed at the Ohio locations by the summer of 2018, while the Mississippi areas will be done by fall of next year.
With the upgrades and expansions, the company indicates customers in eligible rural areas are guaranteed broadband speeds of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.
At the beginning of this year, TDS opted to receive about $75.1 million a year from the FCC’s Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM), under the Connect America Fund (CAF) program, to expand broadband across 25 states.
TDS will use the funds to buildout rural broadband networks to almost 160,000 locations across the country over the next 10 years.
“We are proud to be part of this massive modernization project with the FCC,” Bruce Mottern, manager of State Government Affairs at TDS, comments in a statement.
The FCC has allocated $1.1 million and $2.4 million each year to serve residents in some of the hardest to serve areas in Ohio and Mississippi, respectively.
Source: https://www.cedmagazine.com/news/2017/10/tds-telecom-expand-broadband-nearly-700-rural-locations