When you arrive in the small town of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, something really stands out. Surprisingly, it’s not the 15-foot pelican statue, nicknamed Pelican Pete. It’s the lightning fast broadband speeds – faster than you find in some major cities. NTCA member and Smart Rural Community Showcase award winner Arvig built its fiber network out to Pelican Rapids in 2018.
Arvig serves 9,813 square miles with more than 10,000 fiber-route miles in several Minnesota communities. Pelican Rapids constitutes just under three square miles and a population of 2,466 within that area. In 2018 and 2019, Arvig made significant investments in its broadband offerings including constructing more than 200 fiber route miles, available to almost 2,000 structures in the Pelican Rapids area. In the rural Minnesota town, Arvig offers residents and businesses gigabit speed internet.
This high-speed internet powers everything from precision agriculture to tourism to education to manufacturing to small business. For example, Homeowner’s Financial Group, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, maintains a branch in Pelican Rapids because broadband is available. Paula Waller, a licensed mortgage professional, was given the ability to choose where the Lakes Country branch would be located as long as the broadband service was fast and reliable enough for her to conduct her work. She chose her hometown: Pelican Rapids.
Arvig employees live by a common purpose: “We enhance lives by creating solutions that connect people to their world.” Projects like the fiber upgrade in Pelican Rapids reflect the commitment to connectivity professed by Arvig and its employees and stories like this truly demonstrate what it means to be a Smart Rural Community.
