The Globe reports…

REGIONAL — The Lismore Telephone Company and Woodstock Communications will expand implementation of broadband fiber optic cables to give communities they serve better Internet access after receiving $209,598 and $2.9 million, respectively.

Lismore’s money was awarded by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Border-to-Border Broadband Program, through which broadband provider grantees are reimbursed for up to half the eligible cost of broadband infrastructure, which will be supplemented by additional funds. Woodstock’s money will come from the state’s Low Population Density Program, which covers up to 75% of the total cost of a project.

Lismore Telephone Company General Manager Bill Loonan and Board Secretary Mark Loosbrock said the $209,598 grant they received still won’t be enough to cover their planned project, which aims to connect 113 locations in Bigelow to broadband.

‘The total project (cost) is $695,328,” Loonan said. “After you take off the Nobles County portion that they’re kicking in and Bigelow’s portion that they’re kicking in, Lismore still has an obligation of $436,730. It’s way over half that we still need to pay out of our pocket.”

The two said Bigelow wasn’t included in previous broadband grants and the community sought to have broadband access.

“It was excluded from our initial fiber-to-the-home project in Nobles County,” Loosbrock said. “When it was excluded… we gave the power of up and down that the community needs and they never could get it. They’ve been after it since it started.