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Unveils innovative project with John Deere that would utilize mobile applications to provide high-speed broadband across the entirety of commercial farms

Mediacom Park, NY - June 16, 2014 – Mediacom Communications Corporation (“Mediacom”) announced an initiative with Deere & Company (“John Deere”) that could bring the advantages of high-speed broadband to Iowa farms. 

The announcement was made by Dan Templin, Senior Vice President of Mediacom Business, during the 2014 Connect Iowa Broadband Summit, a conference encompassing broadband efforts across Iowa, including agriculture, legislation and community planning.

In his remarks, Mr. Templin noted that even though modern farming equipment is increasingly capable of real-time machine-to-machine interaction and data sharing, much of Iowa’s cropland lacks access to the reliable broadband services that make this type of communication possible. To address the access issue, Mediacom Business and John Deere filed a joint expression of interest with the Federal Communications Commission outlining an innovative plan to improve agricultural efficiency and production by driving fiber networks deeper into rural Iowa and connecting the entirely of commercial farming operations with wireless broadband services (Erratum to Expression of Interest Filed on Behalf of Mediacom Communications Corporation and Deere & Company; WC Docket No. 10-90). 

“Mediacom Business is bringing fiber powered broadband to rural communities across its service area through its Gigabit+ Fiber SolutionsTM initiative,” stated Mr. Templin. “What are defined as underserved or unserved areas are increasingly non-traditional communities,” Mr. Templin said. “For example, large commercial crop operations have a number of advanced-technology machines that need high-speed connectivity to perform optimally, even in the absence of residential consumer demand. And our extensive investment and network deployment in Iowa has us best-positioned to deliver the broadband services agribusinesses require.” 

As noted in the joint filing by the companies, John Deere has worked extensively with farmers in Iowa, and numerous other agricultural states, to utilize data gathered through a variety of sensing products, wireless communications, and increasingly smart agricultural vehicles and tools, to maximize farm output and improve cost efficiency.

“As early as 2006, John Deere started equipping construction fleets with telemetrically enabled mobile systems. Increasingly, the ability of our agricultural equipment and systems to improve efficiency, yield, and smart resource use will depend on high speed broadband connections capable of enabling real-time machine-to-machine (“M2M”) interaction and sharing of data with research institutions and governmental agencies,” stated the filing.

About Mediacom Communications
Mediacom Communications Corporation is the nation’s eighth largest cable television company and recognized leader in serving rural America. Mediacom Communications offers a wide array of information, communications and entertainment services, including video, high-speed data and phone, and also provides innovative broadband communications solutions through its Mediacom Business division. Mediacom Communications’ advertising sales and productions services are sold under its OnMedia division.

For more information about Mediacom Business and to view a video about the Gigabit+ Fiber SolutionsTM initiative,
go to www.mediacombusiness.com.

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Contact:
Thomas Larsen
Phone: (845) 443-2754 | Email: tlarsen@mediacomcc.com