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Cooperatives Continue to Grow Rural Fiber Networks in Updated Report, Cooperatives Fiberize Rural America
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on
The fourth edition of our report, Cooperatives Fiberize Rural America: A Trusted Model for the Internet Age, reveals the steady growth of cooperative fiber since we originally released the report in 2017. In the report, we present rural telephone and electric cooperatives as a proven model to connect rural communities across the country with high-quality Internet access. This version updates the maps and analysis in the report with the most recent federal data.
Download the May 2020 update of Cooperatives Fiberize Rural America: A Trusted Model for the Internet Age [pdf].
We first published this report in 2017 and have updated it in the years since. For all versions, including the most current, visit the Reports Archive.
Highlights from the fourth edition of Cooperatives Fiberize Rural America include:
- More than 109 rural electric cooperatives have invested in fiber optics to provide broadband access or have fiber projects underway.
- Cooperative fiber networks cover nearly 82 percent of North Dakota by area, more than 53 percent of South Dakota, and about a quarter of Iowa, Minnesota, and Montana.
- Updated maps display the extent of rural cooperative networks, the change in network coverage between June 2018 and June 2019, and the predicted future growth of cooperative networks.
Read the updated version of Cooperatives Fiberize Rural America: A Trusted Model for the Internet Age [pdf].
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