Minnesota FTTH Network Adds 4G Wireless Service for Rural Users

MINNEAPOLIS & LAKEFIELD, MN - Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services (SMBS), a multicommunity fiber network in Minnesota, signed a five-year contract with LocaLoop Inc., through its subsidiary, SynKro Southwest, to expand SynKro 4G wireless fixed and mobile broadband Internet service to its eight rural communities and surrounding areas.

The contract follows a successful six-month trial installation in Bingham Lake, one of the SMBS communities, and the continued network buildout and testing for the other seven communities.

“Coming off the Bingham Lake trial, we look forward to delivering the same high-quality network performance and user experience to underserved rural areas across the SMBS service territory,” says Carl-Johan Torarp, founder and CEO of LocaLoop. “We are expanding the network to complement SMBS’s broadband service as well as providing their customers with mobile broadband Internet.”

“Reliable and affordable high-speed Internet is as important to families and businesses in rural communities as anywhere else,” says Dan Olsen, SMBS General Manager. "As a SynKro Southwest service customer myself, I have seen how it has enhanced my family’s life and transformed our online activities in just a short time.”

Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services is bringing fiber-to-the-premises infrastructure to the communities of Bingham Lake, Brewster, Heron Lake, Jackson, Lakefield, Okabena, Round Lake, Wilder and Windom. The network initially will consist of a 125-mile fiber ring and an FTTP infrastructure supporting more than 3,500 home passings, serving approximately 9,000 residents. SMBS is receiving $12.7 million in federal stimulus funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.