A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
From left, Bree Maki, deputy director of the state office of broadband development, Cloquet community development director Holly Hansen, Joe Buttweiler and Steve Gilbert were front and center in a ribbon cutting for the Cloquet broadband project Monday morning at the Cloquet Business Park.
Cloquet city officials and Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) celebrated the CTC Woods to Waters Broadband Initiative and its arrival in rural Cloquet. The $4.9 million local grant will fund what are considered last-mile projects connecting some of the most rural and/or underserved residential areas of central and northeastern Minnesota.
In Cloquet specifically, the project will improve service in the northern part of the city. Crews burying fiber optic cable have been visible along Minnesota Highway 33 and the North Road this week. When completed, the project will pass by 246 Cloquet homes at a cost of nearly $1 million: funded by $400,000 in Minnesota Border-To-Border funding, $300,000 in City of Cloquet America Rescue Plan Act funds, and $300,000 from CTC to implement. The project also includes 92 homes in Thomson Township at a cost of $531,000.
"High levels of broadband adoption in rural communities reduce unemployment growth and positively impact income growth," said city councilor Lara Wilkinson, calling the impact of broadband "real and measurable."
Construction is expected to be completed this fall with installation to homes starting in late winter or early spring.
