The U.S. Department of Agriculture is sending more than $44 million in grants to Minnesota to help people in rural communities’ access high-speed broadband.
The funding, which Sen. Tina Smith helped secure through her work on the U.S.
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, is expected to give more than 5,000 Minnesotans, especially in rural areas, high-speed broadband access across the state and help at least 139 businesses and 368 farms, Smith’s office said. The latest investment comes as as many as 136,000 homes and businesses across the state are said to lack high-speed broadband access. As part of the investment, the USDA awarded Consolidated Telecommunications Co.
$11 million to connect as many as 600 homes and dozens of farms and businesses to broadband in Crow Wing and Morrison counties. People are also reading..
. “It really helps people that want to live in rural areas get the connectivity they need to work and to stream and to do schooling and telehealth,” Andy Isackson, Consolidated Telecommunications Co.’s chief marketing officer told the Minnesota Star Tribune.
“It’s still a big challenge that we’re trying to fix in rural America.” MiEnergy Cooperative was awarded more than $28 million in funding to provide high-speed broadband to 55 businesses and 235 farms in Fillmore and Winona counties. The investment is expected to help as many as 2,255 Minnesotans.
Additionally, Red River Rural Telephone Association was awarded more than $.
