Good news coming from Southwest Minnesota Broadband Service (SMBS) on their ARRA-funded fiber project. It looks like the 97 percent of the fiber is built (176 miles!) and the residential installs are on their way. Now, according to the Jackson County Pilot, they are focusing on fiber for local businesses…

SMBS’s Naomi Pederson on Monday updated community and business leaders gathered for the weekly meeting of the Jackson Kiwanis Club on progress of network construction in the city of Jackson and distributed literature on soon-to-be-available small business packages and pricing. She said hooking Jackson’s business community up to the fiber network will be a relatively seamless process.

“Our crews will go into the business and survey it prior to installation,” she said. “They’ll be looking for where the wiring is, though, in most cases, we can use the existing phone lines — and you’ll be able to keep your same phone numbers — and same TV lines. We’ll likely have to put in new lines for Internet.”

I always think it’s a sign that things are going well when a provider starts talking to businesses. It generally means that the service must be going well for residents – because businesses are not likely to jeopardize their connection unless it is both faster (or cheaper) and at least as stable as the service they currently receive.