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• How did rural North Dakota end up at the forefront of this trend? Janell Hauck, marketing manager at Dickey Rural Networks, based out of Ellendale, N.D., said the company was at a crossroads a few years ago: The copper lines it had were getting old in some areas, and instead of going the cheaper route and replacing with new copper, they chose to invest in the future by going with fiber.
• "We knew it was just as important for us to be connected to the world as it was for somebody in New York City or Los Angeles--probably even more important, because we are very rural, and we don't have some of the other infrastructure that is available there," Hauck said.
• Dakota Central did also receive a federal grant that helped with their costs in upgrading to fiber, Hauck said.
• One other reason these lines are coming to rural places first is that they are more efficient over long distances, so upgrading shorter lengths of copper in urban areas may not make as much economic sense.
• Other telecommunications companies are not far behind the two in North Dakota: Venture Communications, based out of Highmore, S.D., and serving many areas in northeastern South Dakota, has installed many miles of fiber optic lines and expects to have all of its customers in rural areas connected to fiber by the end of next year, according to Rod Kusser, member services manager at Venture. The change has allowed Venture to offer their customers exponentially more speed than they were able to offer just a few years ago.
• "That's what people are wanting," Kusser said. "They're clamoring for it."
• James Valley Telecommunications, based out of Groton, S.D., is putting in fiber optic cable in for any line they build new or replace, and ITC, based out of Clear Lake, has a continuous rebuild project under way in which they are gradually replac

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