Have you had this happen in your house? Mom's got a zoom call. The Internet decides to stop cooperating. That's it: EVERYBODY off the Internet, so mom can do her zoom call!

That's happened in our house- and we live in Montana's largest city (if you want to call it a city).

That may soon change now that TDS Fiber is expanding their fiber capability into Montana. TDS Fiber Senior Vice President Drew Petersen was in Billings on Tuesday morning for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the Billings Heights.

Drew Petersen: We started in the Billings Heights just about a year ago. So we started in September 2021. This is a very extensive build, it's going to be a $75 million build. It will be complete in 2024. When we're complete, we'll hit that 50,000 customer amount. And anybody that's in Billings will be able to get up to two gig symmetrical broadband fiber service, which is an order of magnitude faster. So in the current marketplace, probably 200 Meg, is the fastest you can receive from incumbent providers.

TDS already has their first 500 customers signed up in the Heights, and they soon plan on launching their services in several other Montana markets.

Drew Petersen: This is the first city in the state of Montana for TDS. We've been in business for over 60 years. We operate in 32 states, we have 1,100 communities that we serve across the country- some very rural. But several years ago we made a clear determination as a company that fiber optics is an absolute game changer. People love a choice in provider.

Peterson says the initial investment into Montana alone amounts to a $250 million injection into the state's economy:

Drew Petersen: We've announced that we're going to Butte, where we're going to do 15,000 homes and businesses. We're going to Great Falls. We're going to do 29,000 homes and businesses. Helena we will do just under 20,000. And then Missoula and Lolo at 35,000. So about 150,000 service addresses across the state. And, you know, that's going to be a big effort for us in the next two to three years.

Full audio:

 

Credit TDS Fiber Lou Thao
Credit TDS Fiber Lou Thao
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Credit TDS Fiber Lou Thao
Credit TDS Fiber Lou Thao
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