InForum reports…

Red River Communications received a $5.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to install fiber optic broadband for more than 80 square miles of rural Clay County. The Abercrombie, N.D.-based telecommunications cooperative received the funding through the agency’s ReConnect Program, which provides funding for new and improved broadband infrastructure in rural communities.

The company will make improvements in sparsely populated parts of southwest Clay County, including rural Comstock and rural Sabin.

The area has around two locations that need broadband access per square mile, Red River Communications CEO Tom Steinolfson said. Installing the infrastructure without funding could cost $30,000 per subscriber in the most rural areas served.

“So without adequate funding, there’s just not a business plan that’s able to be made to make sure these people have broadband that other parts of Minnesota, as well as North Dakota, already enjoy,” Steinolfson said.

On the specific funding…

Of the total project cost, the federal grant covers 75% of costs, matched by a 25% investment from Red River Communications, he said.