Paul Bunyan Communications reports…

Paul Bunyan Communications started construction in late April on expanding the all-fiber optic network, the GigaZone®, to over 600 more locations in Itasca and St. Louis County across five townships.
This project includes areas south and west of the city of Cook including parts of the following townships: Alango, Carpenter, Field, Sturgeon, and an unorganized township east of Carpenter.
Currently crews are working in in portions of Sturgeon Township and the unorganized township east of Carpenter Township. North Central Services, a business member of our cooperative out of Bemidji, is the contractor doing the construction. Their vehicles are marked and there will also be magnets on some with the Paul Bunyan Communications logo to help identify the project.
The first stage of the construction process is installing the main fiber network which is followed by installing the connections up to individual homes and businesses that have signed up to be connected. Once those two stages are completed, our clean up/restoration crews will come through, and our team will work to splice the fiber network. Once it is operational in a project area, customers who signed up for service will be contacted to schedule service installations. A video on how the construction process works is located on the Paul Bunyan Communications YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZqT58jqG_4
For those unfamiliar with Paul Bunyan Communications, we are a member-owned broadband cooperative that has served northern Minnesota since 1952. There are no membership fees or annual dues, membership is gained when a resident or business subscribes to local phone service or GigaZone® Broadband Internet service. The cooperative headquarters is in Bemidji with a Customer Service & Technology Center located in Grand Rapids.
Sign Up Now to Ensure Fiber Optic Connection Residents and businesses in these expansion areas are encouraged to sign up for service now, before construction crews move on to ensure the fiber optic connection is brought up to the location. That can be done quickly and easily online at paulbunyan.net or in person at one of our office locations.
Services Available Upon Completion Once the network is live, customers will have access to Paul Bunyan’s GigaZone® services, including high-speed fiber-optic Internet with speeds up to 10 Gig and dependable, low-cost unlimited local and long-distance GigaZone® voice services.
This project is made possible through the State of Minnesota, Department of Employment & Economic Development, Low-Density Population Broadband Infrastructure Development Grant Program. This project is estimated to cost $7,810,355, with the State of Minnesota’s Low-Population Density Program grant contributing $3,924,157, Paul Bunyan Communications investing $2,203,928, Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation (IRRR) investing $1,000,000, St. Louis County investing $583,250, Alango Township $41,200, Field Township $17,800, and Sturgeon Township $40,000.