I want to thank John Shepard for sending notes and photos from the grondbreaking in Lakefield, MN last Friday. The event is part of Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group’s (SMBG) ARRA-funded effort to deploy fiber to eight communities ((Jackson, Lakefield, Windom, Round Lake, Bingham Lake, Brewster, Wilder, Heron Lake and Okabena) that will then be able to connect up with Windomnet. SMBG recently revealed their pricing for the area.

It looks like the event had remote support from Senators Franken and Klobuchar. Franken sent a letter and Klobuchar phoned her comments saying, “It’s not about one town, it’s about the whole region.” The economic development potential of the new infrastructure was noted, “Once this is up and running the impact will be huge… We want jobs going to Okabena, not India.”

You can get more details in the Worthington Daily Globe.