USDA Invests $10 Million in High-Speed Internet for People in Rural Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 16, 2023 — U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Minnesota State Director Colleen Landkamer today announced an investment of $10 million to bring high-speed internet access to people living and working in rural Minnesota. Today’s investments include funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides a historic $65 billion to expand reliable, affordable, high-speed internet to all communities across the U.S.

“It’s important to ensure that people with all backgrounds and experiences have access to opportunities for building brighter futures in rural America,” Landkamer said. “Today’s funding is going to connect nearly 3,400 rural people, businesses, farms and schools with high-speed internet that will connect them to new markets and educational tools for generations to come.”

Funding for today’s investment comes from the third funding round of the ReConnect Program, in which USDA invested a total of $1.7 billion.

In Minnesota:

• Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative is receiving a $10 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network in Minnesota. The network will connect 3,529 people, 71 businesses, 35 farms and two public schools to high-speed internet in Hubbard, Itasca and St. Louis counties.

Background:  

Today’s investment is in coordination with a nationwide announcement made by U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack that USDA is investing $63 million through the ReConnect Program to bring high-speed internet access to rural residents and workers in Illionis, Michigan, Minnesota and Mississippi. Since the beginning of the ReConnect Program, USDA has invested $3.2 billion to bring high-speed internet access to people in rural communities across the country – $23.7 million in Minnesota alone.  

To be eligible for ReConnect Program funding, an applicant must serve an area that lacks access to service at speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) (download) and 20 Mbps (upload). The applicant must also commit to building facilities capable of providing high-speed internet service with speeds of 100 Mbps (download and upload) to every location in its proposed service area.