Lake County submits RUS loan application for fiber network « Blandin on Broadband

Lake County, a rural county in northeastern Minnesota, has submitted a $34.5 million loan application to the USDA Rural Utility Service Broadband Loan Program. The proposed fiber network will include approximately 800 miles of fiber and serve over 7,300 homes and 500 businesses. Construction is expected to begin in 2010 and services are expected to be available in 2011.

The application was developed by National Public Broadband, Inc., a new non-profit organization that was launched in May to assist communities develop and operate municipal fiber networks. NPB is led by Dr. Tim Nulty the Director of ECFiber in Vermont and the former manager of Burlington Telecom. NPB will design, build and operate the county-owned open access network and also provide retail voice, video and data services...