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TDS Fiber to serve Missoula, Butte, Great Falls, Helena and Helena Valley. You Can Reserve Your Service Now

March 10, 2023/

TDS

TDS Fiber’s efforts could go a long way in providing access in Montana, where only 85% of households have a broadband subscription, according to the Census Bureau. Particularly underserved are people living in federally subsidized housing, especially disabled people and older populations. The Pew Charitable Trusts report just 64% of adults over 65 have a home broadband connection.

By: Bret Anne Serbin

Wisconsin-based TDS Fiber is bringing a new service option to 35,000 homes and businesses in Missoula.

Click Here To Reserve Your Service Now

The provider has been active in Billings for approximately nine months. Now it has its sights on other Montana locales including Missoula, Butte, Great Falls, Helena and Helena Valley.

TDS adds to the fiber landscape currently dominated by CenturyLink and Blackfoot Communications.

According to Drew Petersen, senior vice president of corporate affairs at TDS, the company operates in 900 communities across 32 states. Petersen said TDS specializes in serving small, rural, suburban and college town communities.

TDS provides not only access, but high speeds — 8 gigs, to be exact.

“It’s some of the fastest fiber internet in the nation,” said Petersen. TDS Fiber’s product is symmetrical, so uploads and downloads run at the same speed. Petersen said customers especially like TDS internet for streaming and gaming.

“It’s incredibly reliable,” he said.

TDS Fiber offers digital voice and video too, either in bundles or separately.

Installation in Missoula could take two to three years.

“It’s an incredibly complex and intensive construction process,” said Petersen. He added the company strives to keep construction disruptions minimal.

Despite potential impacts from multiple years of construction, Petersen was confident Missoulians will see the long-term benefit of fiber installation. Across the country, TDS typically captures 50% of the market share within 12 to 16 months of installation.

“The communities really become smart cities,” Petersen said.

TDS is investing $150 million across Montana and creating jobs in each city where it sets up shop. In Billings, for example, TDS has already created 45 jobs, and that figure is expected to climb into the hundreds at full buildout.

“We live and work in the places that we build,” Petersen stressed. “We really try to out-local the locals.”

Many thanks to Frank R. for sharing


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