REGIONAL – The Lismore Telephone Company and Woodstock Communications will expand the deployment of broadband fiber optic cables to provide better internet access to the communities they serve after receiving $209,598 and $2.9 million respectively.
Lismore’s money was awarded through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Border-to-Border Broadband Program, which reimburses broadband provider beneficiaries for up to half of eligible broadband infrastructure costs, supplemented by additional funds. Woodstock’s money will come from the state’s Low Population Density Program, which covers up to 75% of a project’s total cost.
Lismore Telephone Company General Manager Bill Loonan and board secretary Mark Loosbrock said the $209,598 grant they received will still not be enough to cover their planned project, which aims to connect 113 locations in Bigelow to broadband.
“The total project (cost) is $695,328,” Loonan said. “After you take out the part of Nobles County they’re kicking in and the part of Bigelow they’re kicking in, Lismore still has a liability of $436,730. It is more than half that we still have to pay out of our own pocket.”
The two said Bigelow was not included in previous broadband grants and the community wanted access to broadband.
“It was excluded from our initial fiber-to-the-home project in Nobles County,” Loosbrock said. “When it was ruled out… we gave the up and down power that the community needs, but they were never able to get it. They’ve been behind it since it started.
“They saw their neighbors just outside of town with the data they needed,” he added. “People in that community individually wanted us to come down because they couldn’t get what they needed through the air (service). The fiber to the home offers a lot more. The conversation has been going on for a long time.”
Woodstock Communications – based in Ruthton and serving Murray, Pipestone, Lyon and Lincoln counties – wants to bring 90 miles of fiber to Murray County’s Skandia and Lowville townships to provide broadband internet access to 190 residents.
Terry Nelson, general manager of Woodstock Communications, said broadband in the area is desperately needed and long overdue.
“They have little to no broadband, other than a few areas where there are wireless service providers,” Nelson said. “They have been without adequate broadband for a long time – much of rural Murray County and rural Pipestone County. Many of those areas really lack sufficient broadband.”
Nelson said better internet access in rural Murray County will be a boon to those who live in the region.
“It’s expansion,” he said. “For those people who didn’t have broadband, they’re very happy. It means a lot to us because it is kind of in our home area. We are excited to offer fiber optic to these people because it is really needed. People do everything online these days, from education to farmers using it for marketing all the time. Kids need it for homework. Many people (elsewhere) can work from home with this. Right now that is not possible (in parts of Murray County). it is important to them and their quality of life.”
Loonan and Loosbrock shared a similar sentiment about the future of broadband for Bigelow.
“The internet is the wave of the future. It’s almost like electricity these days,” Loonan said of high-speed internet. “More and more people want to work from home. This will give them the opportunity to do that. You get up, check the weather, the markets, Facebook or whatever, what your friends are doing, whether anyone is sick.
“It’s life now,” Loosbrock added. “Bringing high speed – it takes us further into the 21st century. Washington and everyone puts a lot of money into rural service, that’s the most important thing. The big entities, the big cities, they all have great service. The state and federal governments have provided funding in the past to help us all get up to speed on the Internet.
“We provide a service and the most important thing to me is that we complete the provincial project,” Loosbrock said. “That is what we want to achieve.”
Samuel Martin became a reporter for The Globe in September 2023. He has a bachelor’s degree in media studies from the University of Sioux Falls.
