Building a Network Midcontinent Communications’ expansion to Fargo, N.D., more than half finished

BY KAYLA PRASEK

When Midcontinent Communications finishes its expansion into Fargo, N.D., by the end of 2016, the company will have invested more than $72 million in the Fargo metro area from 2014 to 2016 and will have doubled the size of its West Fargo facility.

“We’ve been doing business in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota for years and have been expanding in the Fargo metro area for a while,” says Justin Forde, director of public affairs. “We’ve really built up our presence in Moorhead and West Fargo. Going into Fargo is a big commitment but it came together at the right time.”

Midcontinent first announced its expansion to the city of Fargo Nov. 26, 2013. At the time, President and CEO Pat McAdaragh said “considering the growth and opportunities available, combined with the number of requests we’ve received, the time is right to focus our resources and expand our service area to include Fargo.”

The company unveiled a three-year build plan, with the first phase starting in spring 2014 and infra- structure going in around and west of Interstate 29. In 2015, construction was completed in south Fargo, with north and downtown Fargo scheduled for 2016. Construction should be completed by the end of 2016. In early December, the infrastructural work was about 60 percent complete, with 1.7 million feet of the fiber-optic network in the ground. In the parts of the city where the build-out is complete, Midcontinent’s services are available for potential customers.

The infrastructure, which will provide Internet, phone and cable service to residential and business customers throughout the city, is mainly a fiber-optic network with cables running to homes. Fargo-MoorheadWest Fargo will also be the first of the Midcontinent footprint to receive gigabit Internet. McAdaragh says the company chose the area as the first for Midco Gig “because of the state-of-the-art technology we’ve been installing in the metro area during our Fargo build-out.”

To support the build-out, Midcontinent has plans to hire up to 120 employees during the next couple years, particularly in the company’s call center and as field technicians. More than 60 employees have already been hired, Forde says.

To accommodate that growth, Midcontinent broke ground in May on an addition to the existing facility in West Fargo. The $3 million, 15,000-square-foot facility will double the size of the current building, adding a client center, training center, warehouse space and TV studio and production space for Midco Sports Network and commercial production. The addition, designed and constructed by Fargo-based Olaf

Anderson, was recently completed. The second phase of the project — renovating the original building to match the addition — will now begin.

The highlight of the new addition is the Midco Sports Network studio, Forde says. “Midco Sports Network has grown tremendously, and this addition means we’ll have another team to go out and cover teams. It also means there will be expanded sports coverage in the region. The team will also provide commercial advertising support, as well.” Before the West Fargo addition, Midco Sports Network had studios in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Grand Forks, N.D.

“Midcontinent has had a lot of growth, and Fargo was the one large community Midcontinent wasn’t in, so we’re in all the major cities in our footprint now,” Forde says. The company also completed its expansion to Dickinson, N.D., in 2015.

As for the future, Midcontinent will be bringing its gigabit Internet services to its entire footprint by the end of 2017. “It’s a huge commitment, but it’s about us staying one step ahead of technology,” Forde says. “Everything is connected and helps us be able to serve our customers better going forward.” That expansion will cost $75 million in the next two years. PB