Stick With Fiber, Rural Providers Tell Washington

Kristi Westbrock, CEO and general manager of Consolidated Telecommunications Company, warned that imposing a per-location price cap under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program would be “terribly detrimental” to the state’s progress toward universal fiber access. “All of the locations that are left are really high-cost areas,” she said at the USTelecom 2025 American Connectivity Forum. “So, the number one leading concern definitely is the discussion around caps [being] put in place on how much could be spent per location.” “Minnesotans expect fiber,” said Westbrook, whose company is a cooperative broadband provider serving central and northern Minnesota. “We’ve had our broadband program in place for so long, and the stories of fiber are well known. Consumers understand what fiber to their home means for them.”