Border to border fiber broadband to every Cottonwood County residence took a major step toward becoming reality Tuesday afternoon.
On a 4-1 vote, the Cottonwood County Board of Commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding with Federated Rural Electric, committing $3 million to help Federated move forward with bringing fiber optic broadband to rural residences in the county, as well as communities not currently served by fiber optic broadband.
The total project is projected to cost roughly $27 million. Federated will pursue state and federal grants to help supplement the project. However, work on the project is anticipated to start as early as later this month.
The first step would be to install a backbone ring in the county. From there, the fiber line can potentially be extended to remote parts of the county.
More from Tuesday’s meeting will appear in the Dec. 11 print and e-editions of the Citizen.
