Western Iowa Networks Expanding Broadband Options In Mills County

Officials from Western Iowa Net-works are pleased with the response they’re getting from Mills County residents who want to have broadband internet service available for their homes and businesses.

The Breda, Iowa-based company has been using funds from the Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Program to bring fiber optics to several rural areas of western Iowa, including Mills County. Western Iowa has several fiber project areas designated in Mills County and each project is at a different stage in the process. In the Glenwood CARES project area, west and north of Glenwood, and in the Silver City and Mineola areas, the construction phase is completed and installations are being scheduled. Meanwhile, in the Malvern and Hastings areas, the sign-up process has just begun. Construction will commence after the ground thaws in the coming weeks.

“Obviously, a lot of what’s making this all possible is the broadband funding,” Western Iowa Networks marketing manager Wes Treadway said. “We have had the broadband grants that are out there. We have applied for all of these and we’ve been successful in every stage of the funding.”

“It’s allowed us to build fiber optics in a large area of Mills County.”

Rural broadband has been a major component of federal COVID-19 relief funding, including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Last Thursday, Western Iowa Networks conducted a sign-up and information meeting at Malvern City Hall. A steady flow of Malvern and Hastings-area residents showed up to learn about the service and to get their home or business on the installation list.

“It’s been very good. We’ve done a lot of these types of meetings in a lot of different places over the years and you just never know what to expect,” Treadway said. “We started here at noon. We had somebody right in the door at noon and it’s been constant ever since. It’s been very positive.”

Treadway said the goal of the grant programs is to develop broadband service options for rural residents.

“A lot of them have to work from home now and their kids are schooling from home a lot,” he said. “This is making it, hopefully, much better for those folks.

“We’ve literally heard from some of these folks who live in some of those areas and they’re close to possibly losing their job because their job is dependent upon them having reliable internet.”

Treadway noted that 25 Mbps is considered high-speed internet by the Federal Communications Commission and grant funding is available only for projects in communities that don’t meet the FCC definition.

“Most of the folks in the rural areas can’t get anything close to that (25 Mbps),” he said.
Western Iowa Networks is bringing broadband to rural areas of Mills County through a partnership with the county board of supervisors. Mills County is allocating one-third of the $2.9 million its receiving from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for rural broadband.

The city of Glenwood isn’t included in Western Iowa Networks’ current fiber optics plans because grant funds are only available for projects that bring broadband to underserved areas.

“We are not building fiber optics to the city of Glenwood,” Treadway  said. “We get a lot of questions about that but obviously the broadband funding that’s available that makes this make financial sense for a company like ours is for rural areas – for folks that are considered underserved by the FCC.”

Western Iowa Networks encourages residents and business owners who want the service to sign up before the construction process starts and fiber lines start getting placed in their area.

“If folks don’t sign up early on, it’s going to be some time before we can probably get to them later on because there’s only so many construction crews out there and they have to move on to other projects,” he said. “Unfortunately, if folks haven’t signed up in a project we’ve already completed, it’s going to be some time before we can get back to bury their drop for them so they can get fiber optics.”

Information regarding the status of current Western Iowa Networks projects is available on the company’s website. Another informational meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb.3, from noon to 7 p.m. at Lake Ohana Market near Mineola. Residents and business owners from any of the areas Western Iowa Networks is offering broadband service to are welcome to attend.