Midco COO says its fiber build is a boon for cable subscribers, too

Midco is two years into a $500 million upgrade project called Fiber Forward, which aims to deliver multi-gigabit service to 300,000 homes and businesses over a six to eight year time span. Despite the name, COO Ben Dold said the the initiative isn’t just about running fiber to new homes and businesses, but also about beefing up the fiber backbone that supports its cable customers as well. The ultimate goal is to deliver 10-gig services to all Midco customers across Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, whether they’re connected with a fiber or coax drop. Right now, it offers symmetrical speeds of up to 5 Gbps to fiber customers and 1 G Gbps/200 Mbps to coax customers using DOCSIS 3.1 technology. Dold said Midco is roughly a quarter of the way through the Fiber Forward project. Work thus far has focused on upgrades to its core fiber network. That includes tasks like adding redundant fiber rings, putting “a lot” of new fiber hubs in the communities it serves and beefing up the fiber counts on its trunk routes. It has also been focused on getting the right field teams and permitting in place. With that foundational work now behind it, Dold said he expects the pace of upgrades and new construction will quicken.