Midco Completes $30 Million Fiber Network, Brings Gigabit Internet to Jamestown

Midcontinent Communications senior vice president Steve Mattern had one description for the company's Jamestown fiber project: "a really successful build." The $30 million effort strung 108 miles of fiber through the city and surrounding Stutsman County and now passes roughly 9,600 homes and businesses, delivering symmetrical internet speeds up to 5 gigabits per second.

Midco rolled out commercial service to Jamestown neighborhoods in late 2025, capping an infrastructure investment that reshaped the city's broadband landscape. Residential customers can order whole-home Wi-Fi, IP television and phone service in addition to internet tiers reaching symmetrical 5-gig speeds, an offering few North Dakota cities of comparable size can claim.

The practical implications extend well beyond fast video streaming. Telecommuters uploading large files, farm operators running precision agriculture platforms and patients scheduling telehealth appointments all rely on upload bandwidth that cable networks have historically bottlenecked. Midco's stated network uptime average of 99.9% addresses another long-standing frustration: reliability during peak hours and severe weather events.

The Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce has framed the network as an economic development lever, praising the investment for strengthening connectivity and local commerce. Business customers gain access to private networking, advertising solutions and data-center resources beyond standard broadband, which could influence site-selection decisions for employers weighing Stutsman County against larger markets.

The build gives Jamestown a second major fiber provider and, for the first time in recent memory, genuine competition for high-speed internet service. Midco's commercial service is live across the city; residents and businesses can sign up through Midco's local channels or connect with the Jamestown Area Chamber for enterprise partnership inquiries.