High-Speed Broadband Expands Into Jefferson
Fidium Fiber, one of the two companies contracted by New Hampshire several years ago to expand high-speed broadband across the state, is closing gaps in Coos County after completing much work in 2024 in northern Grafton County.
Officials at the state level said the overall expansion effort in New Hampshire is moving along and remains on schedule.
On Thursday, Fidium, which is owned by Consolidated Communications, announced it had expanded in Jefferson, connecting more than 750 homes and businesses to its multi-gig, all-fiber network.
"We have seen how fiber has transformed communities, and we are so excited to bring Fidium to Jefferson,” Jeffrey McIver, senior government relations manager for Fidium, said in a statement. “No matter where you live, access to a quality fiber internet connection is crucial in today’s world, empowering people to get the full benefits of streaming, expanding employment opportunities, and participating in the digital economy. Access to Fidium’s future-proof connectivity brings these opportunities to Jefferson, as well as all the accompanying entertainment and lifestyle benefits.”
Currently, more than 276,000 New Hampshire homes and businesses have access to Fidium, including Littleton and Whitefield, with more availability coming soon across the state, said Fidium representatives.
In December, the company announced that construction was set to begin in Lancaster and Franconia, where nearly 4,000 homes and businesses would have connections.
Extensive work in Bethlehem occurred in mid-2024.
Fidium is building what it dubs a “future-proof network,” which is flexible in design and can incorporate future advancements in broadband technology.
The build-out, they said, will boost small rural communities, and local proponents cite benefits for public safety and first responders, schools and education, municipal governments, local businesses, agriculture, arts and entertainment, and more.
According to Fidium figures, expansion has increased business growth by 213 percent, leading to a 44 percent higher GDP. For individuals, they said fiber access has resulted in self-employment growth of 10 percent and increased per capita income by 18 percent.
They said Fiber also increases real estate values, as single-family homes with fiber access have a 4.9 percent higher value than those without.
Fidium’s work is fulfilling its $40 million contract with the state of New Hampshire.
A $50 million contract was awarded to the New Hampshire Electric Co-op for its broadband expansion plans.
The two contracts were awarded in 2022 and 2023, and the state benefited from various forms of federal stimulus funding allocated to broadband.
Leading expansion efforts at the state level has been the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs, whose commissioner, Taylor Caswell, said the state’s overall broadband expansion effort remains on track for a 2026 completion.
“We said at the end of the year that we were about 60 percent complete,” he said. “My staff tells me that those two contracts have basically hung up 1,000 miles of fiber so far. That’s a little more than halfway. It may be close to another thousand to come. That’s big.”