Hoosier Ag Today reports some good news for Paul Bunyan Telephone and their service area…
in Minnesota, Rural Development Broadband Loan Program funds will be used to extend Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative’s existing Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) network to serve rural communities in North Central Minnesota. This project will offer advanced telecommunications services to over 45,710 households and businesses. Paul Bunyan has been operating since 1952 and has been a telecommunications borrower with the Rural Utilities Service since 1953.
It’s part of a large announcement made by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today. Apparently 28 telephone companies will receive funds to build, expand and improve broadband in their rural service territories across 18 states.
Blandin on Broadband 
Congrats to Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative! The rural telcos and coops are at the forefront of Fiber-To-The-Home deployments. It’s a shame that components such as fiber-optic splitters are marked up so enormously by OSP cabinet and FDH suppliers. FTTH systems based on GPON technology require these.