More money awarded for broadband in northern Minnesota

Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative has just been awarded almost $20 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to extend its fiber optic network and deliver high-speed Internet access to more people.

The loan will let Paul Bunyan extend its fiber to about 4,500 homes and businesses in rural Park Rapids and the Trout Lake area near Grand Rapids over the next two to three years. Right now, people in those areas pretty much have to rely on satellite or fixed wireless for high-speed Internet access.

Paul Bunyan is one of the rural telephone cooperatives in Minnesota that have been in the forefront of laying fiber to its customers. It first delivered broadband via fiber to customers in 2004 in Cohasset.

When the state set up another broadband task force earlier this month, Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman quoted a Connect Minnesota study that said 67,000 households don't have broadband available. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems like at least a little dent in that problem.

Residents of the areas involved get phone service from CenturyLink, not Paul Bunyan. But to this point CenturyLink has not offered its DSL service to them, an example, some would say, of how large providers have been slow to make high-speed Internet investments in sparsely populated areas.

Once the project is complete, Paul Bunyan will offer phone service and cable TV in addition to Internet service, said marketing supervisor Brian Bissonette. That will put them into competition with CenturyLink and with satellite TV providers.

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