High-speed internet access is essential for most businesses now. With telehealth options, virtual classes and wide range of communication just a click away, the challenge is ensuring equal access.
The Biden Administration says South Dakota will get more than $200 million for high-speed internet infrastructure.
Historically, rural and remote locations have been at the back of the line for infrastructure investment.
Jason Dabbert, co-founder of Leap Communications, which specializes in rural internet, said there’s a big difference between services offered in town and internet options for isolated rural areas.
“A lot of the times in town, you’ll have the big cable companies and big internet service providers because the return on investment is obviously a lot better," Dabbert said. "They tend to put a lot of investment there and completely overlook the rural parts of South Dakota. The providers that are out in the rural space are traditionally old telephone companies that were around when they brought telephone to rural, and their infrastructure is not really up to delivering high-speed broadband.”
Dabbert said that limits possibilities for rural service.
“Say in town you can have gigabit connection available to you," he said. "In a rural space it might only be one meg, which is barely enough to make a phone call, let alone do any remote learning, work from home, any of those types of things.”
Dabbert said internet infrastructure is an investment in the future.
“Our current projects are doing fiber directly into every person’s home," Dabbert said. "We’re based out of Parker, South Dakota, and we have a single fiber that goes from our building to each and every home and business in our coverage area that allows us to basically infinitely expand as technology changes in the future.”
Internet service using fiberoptic cable has buried wires that are directly connected to homes. That infrastructure is maintained like any other utility.