The Nobles County Board of Commissioners received an update on Lismore Cooperative Telephone’s Fiber to Home broadband project at their Tuesday meeting. Lismore Cooperative – the firm that will own and operate the broadband services involved – General Manager Travis Halbur and Finley Engineering associates presented.
Whitney Adler, the project manager with Finley, said there are two projects going at the same time: the Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) project and a line extension project .
The FTTP project – which kicked off in August 2025 – will cover roughly 650 total route miles, with about 123 miles going specifically to people’s homes. Around 1,443 potential customers will be impacted.
As of right now, the project is in phase one.
“Most of the design, permitting, contracts is all complete; construction is going on,” Adler said. “We’re about 71% through phase one construction, 28% through the overall, all four phases. Phase two will be starting real soon in the near future.”
According to Adler, the project has exhausted a quarter of its $13 million grant so far. About $9.85 million remains in the budget.
“We have three mainline (plow) crews going, one drop crew, a few splicing crews, and the goal ultimately is to get about three to four miles plowed per day just to get the customers of Nobles County basically in line with fiber,” Adler said.
The line extension project covers 16.5 route miles and 4.5 total drop miles, serving an estimated 56 potential customers. With two mainline plow crews, the project’s expected completion is no later than Dec. 31, 2026.
Blandin on Broadband
News and information on broadband use, policy, and trends
