Chanhassen Villager - Plans for fiber-optic ring move ahead in Carver County

Plans for building a new fiber-optic ring in Carver County moved forward this week when county commissioners agreed to enter into final negotiations with a private company.

The ring, which would be about 70 miles long, would connect county buildings and other government buildings such as schools and libraries throughout the county with the high-speed communications network.

The county plans to partner with Jaguar Communications to install the fiber network. (more . . .)

ISP-Planet - Jaguar Communications' Rural Fiber Network

"This is the sort of company that should be in every rural area in America; the obstacles it has overcome show why there is still a digital divide between city and country in the U.S."

All too often, ISP-Planet covers the stories of ISPs destroyed by bureaucracy or regulation. This is a rare success story, but it's not about good government sweetness and  (more . . .)

App-Rising - Recapping The Benton Foundation's Best-of-Breed Stimulus Event In DC

Donny Smith - Jaguar Communications is one of those quiet success stories for rural fiber that not enough people know about as they've been too busy getting networks built to promote what they're doing. But I think their numbers speak for themselves. They currently have a service area that covers 10-20,000 sq. miles  (more. . .)

Ars Technica - Rural America not ready for broadband? Hogwash, say ISPs

Neighboring Jaguar Communications brought high speeds out to a south Minnesota area of about 12,000 square rural miles, and has 10,000 customers who live in Blooming Prairie, Owatonna, Waseca, and six more townships with similar names. Its board chair, Donny Smith, described the ISP as "a group of local people who decided to do it. Nobody else would do it, so we decided to do it ourselves." (more. . .)

The Benton Foundation - Setting a High Standard for Broadband Stimulus Funding

Setting a High Standard for Broadband Stimulus Funding:
Urban and Rural Examples of the "Best in Breed"

Thursday, May 7th
12pm-3pm
National Press Club, The First Amendment Lounge
529 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20045

The Benton Foundation hosts a panel discussion on the characteristics of the "best of the breed" broadband stimulus applications.(more. . .)

Pioneer Press - Workshop on federal broadband grants draws 350 people

You can be pretty popular when you're giving away $7.2 billion.

A standing-room-only audience of more than 350 people packed the ballroom of the Crown Plaza Riverfront in downtown St. Paul on Tuesday, for an all-day federal government workshop to tutor engineers and executives on applying for grants to install high-speed Internet connections in parts of the Upper Midwest where broadband is scarce or nonexistent. Donny Smith, a farmer and CEO of Jaguar Communications, an Owatonna phone and Internet service, said he's seeking between $100 million and $120 million for three projects spread across Owatonna and rural Steele and Dodge counties, as well as the Arrowhead region of Minnesota.

His company, which competes with incumbent phone and cable companies like Qwest Communications International and Charter Communications, plans to bring state-of-the-art fiber-optic broadband to (more . .)