The Minnesota Employment and Economic Development Office of Broadband Development notified Federated Rural Electric/Broadband of Jackson this week of a $7 million grant to serve rural Jackson County.
Stated Scott Reimer, Federated’s general manager, in a press release: “We’re ecstatic about the opportunity to serve rural Jackson County with fiber to the premises, delivering one gigabyte per second upload and down. This grant features a two-year time frame. We started the engineering and layout for the grant application. We will soon start procuring materials and look for a contractor.”
The area covered by the grant is northwest Jackson County, covering the rural areas of Heron Lake and Okabena. In addition, areas south, east and southwest of Lakefield are underserved or unserved as well. The project involves 480 households, businesses and farms, installing 251 miles of fiber. The townships covered are LaCrosse, Wiemer, Western Heron Lake, Alba, Rost, Hunter, Sioux Valley, Minneota and Ewington.
The project’s total cost is estimated at $10 million with Jackson County partnering and providing a $500,000 match. Federated will secure long-term loans for the balance, similar to what it does for financing its electric distribution line system.
Only 61.98 percent of Jackson County residents now have access to 100/200 Mbps speeds, which ranks 55th out of 87 Minnesota counties.
The State of Minnesota announced grants totaling $66,869,009 to 30 projects in the eighth year of the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant program and the pilot round of the Low-Density Broadband Grant program. Federated was funded under the low-density program.
Federated has been involved in the internet business since 2005 offering first WildBlue and then Exede satellite internet to the area. Federated acquired Back 40 Wireless January 1, 2022, renaming it Federated Broadband. Federated Broadband now serves nearly 1,400 customers in Jackson and Martin Counties with line-of-sight internet and streaming TV service, plus about 50 City of Ceylon fiber subscribers.

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