Brightspeed, AT&T Unveil Multiple State Fiber Plans

Brightspeed plans to extend fiber broadband to 70,000 Wisconsin customers in 15 counties by the end of 2023, the company said Wednesday. The company earlier announced initial fiber builds for Pennsylvania, Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Alabama, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina, and said it plans to announce more state plans in coming weeks. Brightspeed’s network includes ILEC assets that Apollo purchased from Lumen. The deal recently secured all state regulatory approvals but still needs an FCC greenlight (see 2206290041). AT&T and Louisiana plan a $19 million project to extend fiber to 9,800 homes, farms and businesses in 13 parishes, AT&T said Tuesday. “Extensive design and engineering work will begin immediately following the execution of a final agreement between AT&T and the state.” Louisiana this week announced $130 million total in Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) awards using federal American Rescue Plan Act funding. The state expects to bring broadband to 66,000 households and small businesses in 50 parishes in the first GUMBO round, the state said. Other big winners included Star Communications ($28.2 million), Swyft Fiber ($25.7 million), Altice subsidiary CSC Holdings ($16.1 million), Charter Communications ($10.1 million) and Comcast ($7.9 million). “We have another $43 million in funds from the ARP we will award by October, and we are expecting an additional significant amount of federal funds from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that will be awarded next year to continue to address access, affordability and literacy,” said Gov. John Bel Edwards (D).