The Buildout is a column from Light Reading tracking broadband network deployments. This week we’re tracking new construction and service launches reaching an estimated 100,000 locations across the US. Send us your news at [email protected]. Keep up with every installment of The Buildout hereand sign up for the Light Reading Broadband newsletter here to get The Buildout in your inbox every Friday.
Kinetic connects Fort Bend County
Kinetic announced that it grew its fiber network by nearly 25% over the last year in the greater Sugar Land and Fort Bend County region of Texas. Specifically, the company added more than 7,600 new fiber locations, through a privately funded investment, extending its reach to more than 40,000 homes and businesses across the region. To commemorate the connectivity milestone, Kinetic has hosted and planned a series of community events throughout the week and weekend. Kinetic is a subsidiary of Uniti Group, which completed a merger with Windstream in August 2025.
Wire 3 halfway done in Deltona and DeLand
Wire 3 announced it is halfway through with its fiber construction in the cities of Deltona and DeLand, in Volusia County, Florida, “marking a major milestone for thousands of homes and businesses.” Wire 3 commenced construction on the $60 million build in May 2025, and it went live in initial construction areas in January 2026. The company expects to complete construction by the end of 2027. [Editor’s note: Wire 3 does not specify total location numbers for its buildouts in its press releases, and a spokesperson did not respond as of this writing to confirm or deny Light Reading’s estimate of 35,000 locations.] Wire 3 is funded by combined investments via Guggenheim Investments and from Oak Hill Capital, which joined Wire 3 as a majority investor in 2024.
Guilford gets GoNetspeed
GoNetspeed announced that it has connected its first customers in Guilford, Connecticut. The company is investing $4 million to reach 4,200 homes and businesses in the New Haven County towns of Guilford and Madison. Construction in the region began this summer and is “actively progressing,” according to a press release. GoNetspeed, currently backed by Oak Hill Capital, is set to be acquired and combined with Greenlight Networks through a $2 billion joint venture between T-Mobile and Oak Hill Capital announced earlier this year. The deal is expected to close in 2027.
Armstrong expands in West Virginia
Representatives from Armstrong Telecommunications joined federal officials in West Virginia last week to provide updates on the company’s broadband buildout in parts of the state. Specifically, via public-private partnerships and combined investments of $100 million, the company is deploying 500 miles of fiber infrastructure to reach more than 5,000 unserved locations in the counties of Cabell, Calhoun, Doddridge, Jackson, Lincoln, Putnam, Ritchie, Wayne, Wirt and Wood, and to sustain service for 10,000 rural homes and businesses. Of the new builds, 1,000 locations are being supported with BEAD funding; 3,300 are being funded through West Virginia’s Line Extension Advancement and Development (LEAD) program; and 775 locations are receiving support via the FCC’s Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced ACAM) Program, according to a spokesperson for Armstrong. Enhanced ACAM funding will also be used to support sustained service for the additional 10,000 locations. The company further confirmed that LEAD work is “substantially complete,” while Enhanced ACAM work is in progress and BEAD field survey work is commencing.
Comcast connects more South Carolinians
Comcast broadband services are now available for more than 1,000 new homes and businesses in Beaufort County and on the Charleston County portion of Edisto Island, in South Carolina. The now completed project was made possible with federal funding awarded from the American Rescue Plan, with the Beaufort County expansion receiving support from the Capital Projects Fund, and the Edisto expansion “built upon a previously funded State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds project,” according to a press release.
Empire Fiber ready in Berwick, Pennsylvania
Empire Fiber Internet (Empire Access) has launched its network in Berwick, a borough in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. According to an emailed press release, the company invested $1.4 million in the fiber buildout project, which now reaches 2,800 homes and businesses. Empire Access is majority-owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm.
TDS turns it up in Wisconsin
TDS Telecommunications completed the first phase of network upgrade work to deliver speeds of 1 Gbit/s for customers in Neillsville (Clark County), Medford (Taylor County), Mosinee (Marathon County) and Junction City (Portage County), Wisconsin. The upgrades saw TDS install nearly 350 miles of fiber, connecting nearly 5,500 locations across the four projects, and were completed with support from the FCC’s Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model program (E-ACAM). According to a press release, this represents “the first launch of multi-phase projects in each community,” with all E-ACAM eligible locations to be upgraded by the end of 2028. Thereafter, TDS says it plans to “continue expanding access to high-speed connections leveraging its own capital investment.” TDS, a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, has funding from Oaktree Capital Management.
WOW bumps it up in Georgia
WideOpenWest – or WOW – has also completed the first phase of a network upgrade, this one in Newnan, Georgia, increasing download speeds in the Coweta County community from 1.2 Gbit/s to 2 Gbit/s, and upload speeds from 50 Mbit/s to 500 Mbit/s. The upgrades are part of a regional investment of over $5 million to reach more than 40,000 homes and businesses by summer 2027, according to a press release. WOW was taken private in 2025 via a $1.5 billion transaction completed by DigitalBridge Group and Crestview Partners.
