Midco Broadband Expansion Project

At the City Council meeting on February 7, 2022, the City Council approved an agreement with Midcontinent Communications (Midco) for the build out of broadband services for 495 homes in the City of Minnetrista. 

There has been a gap in the availability of reliable high speed internet service in the City of Minnetrista which has been exacerbated by the COIVD-19 pandemic. The Council made it a top priority to find solutions to fill this gap in essential service. 

On January 3, 2022, Midco proposed to construct facilities and provide reliable high speed internet service to 495 homes to fill the broadband availability gap in the city. The proposal includes an estimated total construction cost $2.57 million. The City Council approved a local contribution of $400,000, using a portion of the American Rescue Plan Act funds received from the Federal Government earmarked for municipalities to invest in broadband infrastructure.

The agreement will provide nearly 500 Minnetrista homes with increased speeds of up to 5 gigabit per second downloads and 2 gigabit per second uploads by July 1, 2023, although we are hopeful that the project will be significantly completed by December 31, 2022. The city is excited to get this project underway!

What is the cost to the customer? 

Midco offers month to month contracts for fiber internet service. Their most popular speed packages begin at $49.99-$99.95 per month with several tiers in between. They also offer higher tiers of service which is more geared towards businesses versus residential, but is offered to everyone. 

Tentative Project Schedule

Project Milestone Estimated Start Estimated Complete
Permits Acquired January 2022 March 2022
Contractor Selected February 2022 March 2022
Project Final Design Completed March 2022 April 2022
Purchase & Receive Materials April 2022 August 2022
Construction of Plant August 2022 November 2022
Test & Activation of System November 2022 December 2022
Begin Customer Installation December 2022 July 2023

 

Update May 10, 2023

There are currently four Midco crews in Minnetrista finishing all underground construction. They are about 78% complete with all underground construction. Midco has started placing fiber in the completed conduits, and they will have another team in Minnetrista next week to continue placing fiber. 

Next week, they will have five techs out to begin fiber splicing. Midco is on track to meet launch dates beginning on June 5, 2023 with the final launch on June 26, 2023!

For more information or to sign up for service you can:

If you have additional questions, please contact Allie Polsfuss at apolsfuss [at] ci.minnetrista.mn.us!

Update March 6, 2023

Before frost at the end of 2022, Midco completed about half of the underground construction in Minnetrista. Of the five project areas, Midco completed the underground construction in three. As soon as the ground thaws, multiple teams will be in Minnetrista working on fiber splicing in the completed underground construction areas and completing the remainder of the main underground construction and fiber splicing in the last two areas with rolling activations (service available) beginning in early May through June.

Residents will receive a mailed notification regarding construction in the coming weeks and another notification 30 days prior to service launch. Preregister for service at the link below to receive automatic updates on construction and service availability. 

https://midco.com/about/service-areas/minnetrista/
 

Update October 14, 2022

Midco's construction teams have been out in the field making sure they are set with construction before frost! Underground construction has been progressing very nicely and they have about 18% of the total footage of the project complete, which is on schedule. Once they are done with the underground construction, they will begin fiber splicing followed by activation. There has been some supply chain delays in receiving fiber taps needed, but so far, Minnetrista has not been greatly impacted. Due to the addition to the project approved and supply chain delays, they expect to activate customers in early 2023 and hope to have all customers serviceable by March 2023. 

For additional information, please visit https://midco.com/about/service-areas/minnetrista/ or contact manager Melissa Wolf at Melissa.Wolf [at] midco.com. 

Update August 17, 2022

Midco's crews will be heading to Minnetrista next week to begin construction. The construction will be slower to start but we anticipate it to ramp up after Labor Day when the rest of the crews are on site! For additional information, please visit https://midco.com/about/service-areas/minnetrista/

Update July 20, 2022

The City Council approved an extension to this project to include 20 additional homes on Dutchview Road, Woodedge Road, and Westedge Blvd area. See the updated maps and addresses under "Helpful Links" to see if your home is included in this project.  

Helpful links and information

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