![]() ![]() is 25 Mbps (Megabits per second) up and 3 Mbps down. Currently, the standard for broadband service in the U.S. Their story is being replicated thanks to the Connect South Dakota program in places like Timber Lake, rural Mitchell, just outside Watertown and in northeastern Minnehaha County among other locations.īut the need for broadband doesn’t stop once the fiber is buried to the house or business. Noem’s Connect South Dakota grants, the Bergesons and several hundred other families in rural Hughes County will have reliable fiber optic broadband service. This was a hardship not only for their ranch operations, but it also presented a significant challenge to operate the convenience store and restaurant they own in Blunt more than 20 miles to the northeast.īut now, thanks to Highmore-based Venture Communications and one of Gov. Because of the topography, the Bergesons can’t get a reliable cell phone signal and their internet service was almost non-existent. ![]() Don and Becky Bergeson’s ranch is tucked in a series of rolling hills not far from the Missouri River. Noem visited a ranch just east of Pierre to see how broadband service can be a game changer for everyday South Dakotans. All told, these eight projects will make broadband service available to nearly 5,000 homes and business in a variety of South Dakota locations. Her plan to make $5 million in grant funds available was approved by the Legislature and those funds were awarded to eight different internet providers who are investing an additional $6.4 million of private capital. Noem made the Connect South Dakota program a top priority. In her first State of the State speech in January, Gov. In these internet deserts, thousands of businesses and families are finding themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide through no fault of their own. Delivering this type of state-of-the-art service took years of planning and the investment of millions of dollars by internet providers across the state.īut not all parts of South Dakota are lucky enough to have these types of high-grade services. ![]() Many places in our great state-large communities and small towns, ranch country and grain farms-have some of the best broadband service in the United States. While this has been an extraordinarily wet year in many parts of South Dakota, there are still large sections of our state that are virtual deserts: Maybe not the kind of deserts where dust storms raise havoc and tumbleweeds blow across dried ground, but internet deserts, where broadband services are lacking or in some cases almost non-existent. Greg Dean is the director of industry relations for the South Dakota Telecommunications Association. ![]()
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