The state of North Dakota awarded $37 million for broadband deployments on June 30. Seven providers won funding and all seven are small incumbent providers with operations in rural parts of the state.
That’s a big change from what we have seen in many other states, where broadband funding often has gone to large telcos and cable companies, as well as to electric cooperatives, fixed wireless providers and other competitive carriers.
The seven companies that won a total of eleven awards in the North Dakota broadband funding announcement include names that will be familiar to many Telecompetitor readers. The companies and the counties for which they won funding are:
- Griggs County Telephone Company – Steele County, Cass County
- Halstad Telephone Company – Cass-Grand Forks-Traill County
- Nemont Telephone Cooperative – East Westby-Divide County, Williston-Williams County
- Northwest Communications Cooperative – Burke County
- Polar Communications – Walsh County, Grand Forks County, Traill-Steele County
- Red River Communications – Rural Wahpeton
- West River Telecom – Grant County
All the providers will deploy fiber-to-the-home, according to a press release.
Small providers have played a big role in making high-speed broadband available throughout a large part of North Dakota, so perhaps it is not surprising to see them win so strongly in the broadband funding awards.
The North Dakota funding came through the state’s Capital Project Fund. The projects will make broadband available to 2,100 homes and businesses.
