West Central Tribune

While millions of dollars in federal and state grants are helping bring fiber optic cable for broadband service to ever more rural locations, a wireless internet provider serving them remains confident of its future. MVTV Wireless Internet continues to serve and add customers in some rural areas where new fiber optic cable has been installed for broadband services. Costs remain an important factor for customers deciding to link to fiber optic.

Residents and businesses in Brooten, Danube, Kerkhoven, New London, Pennock, and Spicer (MN) will soon be gaining access to 1-gigabit broadband connections, thanks to a project by TDS Telecommunications. TDS will connect more than 3,700 properties to fiber broadband service, with the first set of people being able to connect by next summer.

Kandiyohi County (MN), as part of the federal American Rescue Plan coronavirus relief package, will receive approximately $8.3 million over the next year and is already committing $1.3 million to a project expanding high-speed broadband in the area. The Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners will spend a large chunk of the county’s overall allotment, perhaps as much as 75 percent, to help fund several broadband improvement projects across the county. The funds can be used to pay for a wide range of projects, programs and personnel as long as it can be tied back to the COVID-19 pandemic.