CHEYENNE — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a press release on November 26 announcing the investment of $4.79 million as part of the Rural eConnectivity Pilot Program (ReConnect Program).

“All West Communications Inc. of Wyoming and Utah, will use the grant to fund the construction of high-speed broadband infrastructure in southwest Wyoming. Using fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) technology, the project is expected to provide services up to 1 gigabyte per second of data to two service areas that include nearly 320 rural households, 20 businesses, and 18 farms as well as schools in Farson and Granger, Wyoming.,” the release says.

The grant funding comes from $600,000,000 appropriated to USDA in the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act to be used on an expedited basis. “One of the essential goals of the ReConnect Program is to expand broadband service to rural areas without sufficient broadband access,” according the program website.

All West is one of 12 applicants to receive funding through the program so far. A total of $112,669,975 in funding has been invested in 13 states. The 100% grant funding requires applicants to provide a 25% matching contribution to be used for eligible purposes. So far, All West is the only applicant to seek funding through the ReConnect Program in Wyoming.

“We pledge to work diligently to complete the project and have high-speed Broadband and other advanced services available to all residential, business, government, and educational locations within the five-year build window,” the company said in a statement on their facebook page.