$8 Million in Grant Funding Headed for Central Minnesota to Expand Broadband Internet Access

(KNSI) – High-speed internet is on the way for residents in western Stearns County.

Albany Mutual Telephone Association will get $7,123,175, and Arvig will get $910,537 to improve service in the area. Over $53 million in grants is being distributed to expand broadband access to an estimated 8,900 homes and businesses in Minnesota.

Twenty-four broadband expansion projects will receive grants from the Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Office of Broadband Development. The money will be used to expand high-speed broadband of at least 100 megabits per second.

DEED will open another $50 million grant round for broadband infrastructure development later this month.

Over the last ten years, DEED has provided nearly $350 million in Border-to-Border or Low Population Density grants, providing broadband access to nearly 112,000 homes and businesses. In addition to these programs, DEED is implementing the Line Extension Program, which expands broadband service to individual homes and businesses that lack it. So far, that program will connect 840 customers to broadband through partnerships with 20 broadband providers.

“Broadband is an economic and societal imperative,” said DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek. “Widely available broadband will help more Minnesotans find a good job or launch a business regardless of geography. Today’s announcement is a boon for Greater Minnesota and anywhere Minnesotans struggle to connect to high-speed broadband.”

The state aims to offer all homes and businesses high-speed broadband by 2026.

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