Dewey and Burdock aren’t so much towns as they are placemarks amid the sprawling grasslands of southwestern South Dakota.
Yet even the ranches scattered around those two map dots will soon have high-speed internet.
Denny Law, general manager and CEO of Golden West Telecommunications, announced the project Tuesday.
“When you start talking about the ability to deliver fiber-optic broadband service in a Dewey or a Burdock, and what that will mean for the quality of life for someone who lives in that location," Law said, "quite frankly, I think it’s a game-changer.”
Golden West, headquartered in Wall, is receiving a $1.7 million grant to help with the $2.3 million project. The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's ReConnect Program.
Golden West will use the money to replace a slower copper network with fiber optic-cable. The cooperative estimates the new service will be at least 25 times faster.
The project covers a 400-square mile area of southwest South Dakota and northeast Wyoming. It will serve 218 people, including five businesses and 65 farms or ranches.
Ag Department State Director Julie Gross said the project is a perfect fit for a ReConnect grant. The program targets rural areas with slow or non-existent internet.
“Golden West is using USDA funding to reach what we call the ‘last mile’ – the homes and businesses that were left out of other broadband deployment in the past," Gross said.
Congress created the ReConnect program in 2018. Since then, the program has granted more than $20 million to projects in South Dakota.
Nationwide, the program spent $698 million on a first round of projects. For the ongoing second round of projects, the Ag Department received 172 applications seeking a total of $1.57 billion.
-Seth Tupper is SDPB's business and economic development reporter.
ReConnect grants in South Dakota
2019
Applicant: Heartland Telecommunications Company of Iowa
Location: Iowa, South Dakota
Total square miles: 278.59
Funded Service Area Households: 868
Award amount: $7,210,117
This Rural Development investment will provide Heartland Telecommunications of Iowa with the opportunity to use $7,210,117 received in ReConnect Program grant funding to build state-of-the-art fiber optic cable infrastructure in rural Iowa and South Dakota. The funded service areas include 868 households spread over 278.59 square miles. The project will help facilitate new educational and economic opportunities for local residents and it will help improve the overall quality of life for people in the community.
Applicant: Valley Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Inc.
Location: South Dakota
Total square miles: 514.33
Funded Service Area Households: 1,754
Award amount: $9,591,131
This Rural Development investment will provide Valley Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Inc. with the opportunity to use $9,591,131 received in ReConnect Program grant funding to build state of the art Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) services for currently underserved rural communities in Arlington, De Smet, Flandreau, Lake Preston, and Volga in South Dakota. The funded service areas include 1,754 households and one critical community facility spread over 514.33 square miles.
Applicant: South Dakota Network, LLC (dba SDN Communications)
Location: South Dakota
Total square miles: 6.77
Funded Service Area Households: 129
Award amount: $3,271,579
This Rural Development investment will provide South Dakota Network, LLC (dba SDN Communications) with the opportunity to use $3,271,579 received in ReConnect Program grant funding to deploy a fiber broadband network in rural areas of South Dakota. The funded service areas include 129 households and three critical community facilities spread over 6.77 square miles.
2020
Applicant: Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc.
Location: South Dakota, Wyoming
Total square miles: 404.74
Funded Service Area Households: 100
Award amount: $1,731,630
This Rural Development investment will be used to deploy fiber-to-the-premises broadband service in southwest South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. The funded service area includes 100 households and one essential community facility spread over 404.74 square miles.
– Source: USDA