Paul Bunyan Communications is currently extending one of the fastest rural all-fiber optic networks in the United States, the GigaZone™ to approximately 66 unserved households in an area around Ash Lake in rural northwestern St. Louis County. The locations will soon have access to fiber optic fast broadband with speeds up to 10 Gbps, along with voice telephone services.
Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported the project with a $101,000 Broadband Infrastructure grant to Paul Bunyan Communications. St. Louis County also provided funding. Total project investment is estimated at $270,000.
The project area is about 15 miles north of Orr and 25 miles south of Ray near U.S. Highway 53. Because the entire project area was considered unserved, it likely would have never received basic broadband service without external assistance. The Ash Lake project has approximately four miles of mainline fiber optic cable and is scheduled to be completed in December.
The 66 locations that will receive new service only had access to Internet speeds below 10 Mbps, if any. St. Louis County is Minnesota’s largest county at over 6,200 square miles in size and has the highest number of unserved households in the state.
Blandin on Broadband
News and information on broadband use, policy, and trends
