The Governor’s Office of Economic Development grants over $32 million dollars in funding for ConnectSD broadband grants.
This marks the state’s final round of investments in the program which now totals over $302 million in private and state broadband funding.
In 2019, the legislature established ConnectSD by approving a $5 million allocation to extend high-speed broadband across the state.
The next year, the COVID-19 global pandemic shifted the importance of broadband access. State legislators allocated further dollars toward the program in the 2020 and 2021 legislative sessions.
ConnectSD provides opportunities in rural areas for remote work, virtual medical care, and connects farmers and ranchers to web-based resources.
Sarah Ebeling is the Communications Coordinator for the Governors Office of Economic Development. She said since 2019, over 32,000 citizens now have access to high-speed internet thanks to ConnectSD.
She said the program helps every rural and urban resident, agricultural business, and community institution in the state access high-speed broadband internet, allowing every South Dakotan to fulfill their economic and social pursuits.
"The importance of high-speed broadband became apparent just months later during the COVID-19 pandemic. The shift on how students attended classes and people worked increased the need for high-speed broadband immediately," said Ebeling. "Today, people continue to rely on high-speed broadband so that they do not have to choose between the small-town way of living and modern-day technologies."
The program funded by state dollars, federal dollars and private investments from broadband providers. As of the final grant allocation, the state has provided $85 million in general funds, $89 million dollars have been invested by the federal government, and private investment is over $127 million dollars.
Ebeling says South Dakota’s five-year plan with Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment will continue into following years as money is provided from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
She said the state will use $207 million dollars allocated from the new law to continue finalizing broadband connections in hard-to-reach areas such as the Black hills.
"Today, more and more people are choosing to move to South Dakota for its Freedoms. And one of those Freedoms is the ability to choose where they want to live in this state, based solely on their wants, not whether or not they have first-class amenities such as high-speed internet," said Ebeling.
The final three awardees for the state’s program offer coverage in west Belle Fourche, rural Spearfish, St. Onge, Whitewood, rural Elk Point, Yankton, and Vermillion, Westerville, Greenfield, and Meckling.
