Valley Telecommunications has been providing its members in the Herreid area with quality service for nearly 70 years. The Cooperative strived to deliver the high speed, reliable internet service to its members across McPherson, Edmunds, and Campbell counties. When an underserved area more than 250 miles away in eastern South Dakota was identified, Valley Telecommunications took action.
Jeff Symens, Chief Executive Officer for Valley Telecommunications, said, “we saw an area from Volga to Iroquois, even down to Flandreau that was still receiving internet over 35-year-old copper lines. Those surrounding communities weren’t connected to fiber in any meaningful way.”
After reviewing the potential service area, Valley applied for Rural Development’s ReConnect grant to expand their service which brought high-speed, reliable internet to those communities.
“Our main obligation is to provide good service at a reasonable price, and we knew we could build the network for these towns and support them while making the network sustainable,” said Jeff.
Rural Development’s ReConnect grant helped offset the high costs of delivering fiber to residents.
“Projects like this wouldn’t be possible without financial support. The economics and return on investment wouldn’t work,” said Ryan Dutton, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at SDN Communications. “The investments from Rural Development and the state have allowed these cooperatives to bring this service to South Dakota, and because it is fiber optic, maintaining and upgrading the technology will be possible for the foreseeable future.”
There are 17 independent cooperatives across South Dakota, each with the goal of bringing value to its members by providing high quality, reliable internet service to anyone in their service area who wants it.
But it goes beyond the ability to stream movies and tv shows. Online learning opportunities have skyrocketed over the past few years, offering learners the ability to attend classes virtually and connect with other students and teachers around the world. Medical facilities now have instant access to medical records and resources across nearly every rural community in South Dakota. Agriculture producers connect to the most advanced farming and ranching technologies available, increasing crop yield and improving the management of livestock across the state.
“Whether or not they need it today, with streaming, Artificial Intelligence, or future technologies, nothing indicates we will reach maximum needs by the customers,” said Ryan. “Fiber allows a lot more scalability than traditional copper lines like those used by DSL or Cable service. Fiber is the way to go with future-proofing for a network of the future.”
USDA Rural Development has made additional grants are available under the ReConnect program. Applications are being accepted until May 21, 2024. Visit https://www.usda.gov/reconnect for program overview, contact information, and application links
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