Duluth News Tribune shares a column from Steve Purcell of Des Moines, Iowa, is a vice president for Mediacom…

Even in the best of circumstances, bringing connectivity to rural regions across Minnesota is a daunting task . Much of the work consists of overcoming logistical, technical, and physical challenges, including building networks through the impenetrable bedrocks of the Iron Range to the dense forests of Pine Island. Each winter compounds these challenges with subzero temperatures, whiteout blizzards, and grounds too frozen to dig.

And a specific look at Lakewood Township

Take the recently completed broadband deployment project in Lakewood Township just northeast of Duluth. In the proud community of just over 2,000 residents, nearly one in five lacks video-call quality internet. Cable broadband crews worked against the clock to install 70 miles of fiber-optic cable network throughout the heavily forested, rural region. Thanks to the team’s dedication before winter storms suspended the season’s work, the network was completed this past spring. More than 1,100 previously unserved homes in the township are now connected.

Projects like in Lakewood Township are set to multiply in the next few years across Minnesota, as the state receives $652 million in federal Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment grants. These taxpayer-funded investments represent a historic opportunity to bring connectivity to the 7% of Minnesotans still awaiting access to high-speed broadband — and to close our digital divide once and for all.

Ensuring that happens, however, will depend on the decisions that our state broadband officials make with these funds. It’s critical we get this right. It means leveraging partnerships between state leaders and experienced internet service providers to bring the technical, financial, and managerial know-how required to surmount the specific challenges of rural, last-mile broadband deployment. Cable internet providers in particular have proven their adaptability with innovative engineering solutions to conquer any geography, terrain, or weather.