A group of nine telecommunication companies covering 70 percent Montana are working to get that territory on the grid.

The Montana Telecommunications Association on Tuesday released its first-ever report on the state of rural broadband in Montana, highlighting the strengths and goals achieved in connecting residents with the digital world. The report also illustrated the challenges and goals ahead for rural telecommunication carriers.

Geoff Feiss, general manager for the Montana Telecommunications Association, said that the association’s first report is a big step for residents understanding how far the state has come in broadband infrastructure and is positioned for future investment.

“Everybody is learning that this is a rapidly changing field with a lot of players and moving parts,” Feiss said. “I think we have a great story to tell.”

The association is an organization of Montana telecommunications companies and cooperatives located in rural areas, which serves approximately 200,000 people, or about a fifth of the state’s population, across about 100,000 square miles. It represents these carriers in the public policy arena and provides analyses, like the 2016 report, to help frame Montana’s broadband infrastructure for rural businesses, schools and residents.

The association comprises nine companies and cooperatives from the state’s rural corners, from InterBel Telephone Cooperative in Eureka, to Southern Montana Telephone Company in Wisdom, to Nemont Telephone Cooperative in Scobey. All nine of the MTA companies were recertified in September to receive funding from the Federal Communications Commission for broadband infrastructure. According to the report, MTA providers have already invested $248.6 million in rural broadband networks since 2011, bringing fiber optic broadband connection to 27 percent of residents. That’s a big jump from the 3 percent connected to fiber in 2014, according to Federal Communications Commission data.

While the association looks to expand the broadband reach over the Treasure State, the costs associated with infrastructure construction are unique to Montana. The report compares Montana broadband infrastructure data with that in Seattle.

“We’ve got huge distances to cover and low density population,” Feiss said. “Those factors make deploying telecommunications” a financial challenge for rural carriers.

According to the report, the cost to lay fiber optic cable in rural Montana comes out to about $30,000 per mile, compared to about $100,000 per mile in Seattle, which requires building lines through more infrastructure such as roads, bridges and buildings. But while the cost of laying wire is lower in Montana, the low population density (an average of less than three people per mile) means companies have to build farther out to reach as many people as those in one square mile of Seattle (an average of 6,717 people per mile). The per-customer cost of constructing fiber optic cable in Montana is about 550 times more than Seattle.

With the cost challenge in mind, MTA companies still have set a goal of connecting 100 percent of rural Montana schools within the association’s territory to fiber optic lines by the end of 2017, with the help of federal funding. That goal aligns with FCC expectations for each student in the U.S. to have access to 1-megabyte bandwidth speeds at their school, but Feiss said Montana students are already ahead of the national curve.

According to the MTA report, 78 percent of Montana schools already meet the federally recommended bandwidth speed, compared to 38 percent of Maryland schools.

“We’re actually ahead of the country in terms of being able to deliver a megabyte per student,” Feiss said. “Whether a school with 100 students wants a 100-megabyte connection is up to them. The standard of a megabyte per student is a lot and many, if not most schools have not demanded that.”

While the cost of such expansive projects could potentially sink a rural carrier, Feiss said those companies, while aggressively building fiber-optic infrastructure, wouldn’t actually take on a project they know would bankrupt the company. The real danger, he said, is the federal funding mechanism changing during the middle of a project already underway. Depending on several factors, these companies can receive between 15 and 50 percent of their funding from the FCC and any major shift in that funding could be more than costly.

Reforms in the funding mechanism that distributes money to carriers are coming this year, and InterBel Telephone Company General Manager Randy Wilson said companies should have an idea of what that means for companies by the end of the year, but he said InterBel’s short-term goals shouldn’t be heavily affected, with 70 percent of its territory already connected to fiber.

“I don’t expect it’s going to change anything in the short term,” he said. “We’re still going to continue building fiber out to homes. We’re only about five years out from building out the rest of our customers and I don’t see that changing in the next two years.”

The federal funding mechanism for telecommunications companies has changed several times over the last half-century and will continue to do so, but Wilson said it is important for telecommunications companies and carriers to be progressive and provide advanced services to foster opportunities for economic development in rural areas. According to the report, Montana actually ranks first in the percentage of workers who telecommute.

“We can support businesses so they don’t go away, but it also attracts people to our area,” Wilson said. “Having 70 percent put us in a pretty good seat. Chances are pretty high that if you’re going to have a home here it’s going to have fiber. Better than 50 percent.”

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or slarson@dailyinterlake.com.