We’re been tracking the progress of ARRA-funded fiber project in Southwest Minnesota. (I think the last report was on their business partnership with Windomnet.) The latest sign of success is the opening of Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services office in Jackson Minnesota. The Jackson County Pilot reports…

Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services, a multiple-municipality-owned and government-grant backed fiber-optics communication utility, will open a Jackson office Monday, March 19. The location is the former Lachlan B. Muir law office in downtown Jackson, currently the front of Pillars Pub and Eatery’s banquet facility.

The opening of the Jackson office comes on the heels of the Jackson County Courthouse and Jackson Public Library being hooked up to fiber-fast Internet and in advance of crews commencing to build the entirety of the Jackson network on April 15….

“Right now, the plan is for the office to be a temporary sales office manned full-time during the build process,” he said. “People can come in, sign up for service, ask questions — whatever. As we go along, however, I think it’s certainly something we can look at, in terms of a permanent Jackson office.”