Nearly three years after construction began, Madison County’s publicly owned fiber network has its first paying customers. On 14-Oct-2026, Empire Fiber Internet, which operates the network for the county, announced that homes in the area between the towns of Cazenovia, Sullivan and Lenox are now connected.
About Madison County Connect
The $31 million Madison County Connect project is a county-owned, privately operated network funded by a USDA ReConnect grant, New York’s ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Program, Empire Fiber Internet and the county itself. The USDA grant, awarded at $10.1 million in 2021, now stands at $12.7 million. The network covers nearly 389 miles of fiber and is aimed first at 1,087 unserved homes and businesses under the grant, with more than 3,600 homes, farms and businesses reachable once it is fully built.
Empire Fiber says service is also extending to addresses along the county backbone in Cazenovia, Chittenango and Canastota, plus select neighborhoods in those communities. Advertised plans run from 500 Mbps to 2 Gbps with no data caps. Lightwave reported the launch on 02-Nov-2026 and noted that no final completion date has been set; Empire Fiber has pointed to early 2027.
Why it took this long
Construction started in November 2023, and the first network hut went up in the Town of Sullivan, where the launch was announced. Unlike a typical provider build, the county owns the fiber and Empire Fiber runs the service, the kind of municipal model that ConnectALLan arrangement New York’s ConnectALL municipal program was set up to encouragersquo;s Municipal Infrastructure Program funds. County Administrator Mark Scimone said customers are connected and additional areas are ready for service, while Empire Fiber CEO Kevin Dickens said the company is excited to see customers getting connected. The project’s federal grant grew from $10.1 million to $12.7 million along the way, a reminder that rural fiber builds of this size routinely take longer and cost more than first planned.
What this means if you live in New York
If you are in Madison County, particularly around Cazenovia, Sullivan or Lenox, check your address with Empire Fiber, since more areas are being activated as construction wraps up. Being on the planned map does not mean service is live at your address yet, and the early-2027 target could still move. Elsewhere in the county, cable from Spectrum and satellite options such as Starlink remain the main alternatives where fiber has not arrived.