The USDA [announced Wednesday](http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2013/05/0085.xml&contentidonly=true) that a $20.8 million loan to a Montana telecommunications company to help improve rural broadband service. InterBel Telephone Cooperative in Eureka,… Read More »Eureka telco awarded $20M USDA broadband loan
Montana Opticom, the ISP that in 2010 received $64 million in federal stimulus money to lay fiber-optic cable for broadband in the western portion of Gallatin County, recently applied for permission to bury some of that cable on forest service land.
A $70 million federal loan to expand rural broadband in northern Montana will also improve Internet service for people in Big Sky and Ennis, an… Read More »Ennis and Big Sky to see better Internet service from $70M broadband loan
The Montana Telecommunication Association today sent a letter to the heads of the NTIA and the RUS, saying that the agencies’ stimulus funding for rural broadband is wasteful, bad for consumers and a threat to local telecommunications companies.
A response from RUS Administrator Jonathan Adelstein to my story about the criticism of Montana Opticom’s $64 million stimulus award.
A few more notes on Montana Opticom’s $64 million stimulus award to improve rural broadband in Gallatin County.
A local telecommunications company, Montana Opticom, has received $64 million in federal stimulus money to expand broadband Internet service in rural parts of western Gallatin County.