More Households in Southern, Rural Colorado to Receive Fiber Internet

~Anne Boswell

(Trinidad, CO) — More high-speed fiber internet is coming to rural Colorado. The Colorado Broadband Office reported this week that five additional grants would be awarded, including adding Fiber Internet to Las Animas County. Southern Colorado Economic Development District’s Richard Chambers shared that the grant of more than three million dollars will bring high-speed internet to hundreds of homes in Las Animas County. Internet service provider SECOM will be a partner in the project. SECOM Chief Business Development Officer Jon Saunders says it’s been a long time coming for this area. 

“SECOM is excited about the opportunity to bring broadband on fiber optic cable along this portion of Highway 12. For several years, the State of Colorado has designated this area as “Critically Unserved”. With this grant, 385 locations will be able to connect to fiber and get 1Gbps and even faster service. We look forward to bringing these homes and businesses this state-of-the-art technology that will meet their broadband needs now and for decades to come. “ 

According to the Colorado Broadband Office, 112 applications were received that requested more than $642 million across 47 counties in Colorado. Factors such as eligible unserved locations, the cost and justifying it for those locations, the availability of affordable services, how involved the applicant has been in the community, and an Executive Order by Governor Polis were all considered in the selection process. Executive Order (EO) D 2022 023 created a universal Broadband Executive Order to accelerate broadband deployment in Colorado.