CAMPBELL COUNTY, WY – The website for the town of Wright, Wyoming, an outpost of 1,600 souls in the energy belt in the northeast corner of the state, says it is a place that “values its small-town atmosphere, strong energy-based economy and quality education.”
Those are all goals that are attainable in the 21st century only if one is connected to the rest of the world via reliable high-speed internet. Enter Visionary Broadband, a provider of high-speed internet service to communities in the rural West including Wyoming, Colorado and Montana. Visionary Broadband has been awarded a Capital Project Fund grant totaling $3.13 million. The grant has allowed Visionary to build out high-speed, internet service to homes and businesses in and around Wright, Wyoming. Visionary contributed $1.6 million of its own capital in a grant match to complete this project and provide high speed, reliable internet service to the high plains of Wyoming.
The town held a celebration of the project’s completion on June 26 at Town Hall with community leaders, residents and Campbell County Chamber members in the form of a Fiber Splicing event, Visionary’s creative take on a more traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony. Mayor Ralph Kingan, Visionary CEO Brian Worthen, and Chamber CEO Gail Lofing were able to reflect on the importance of this accomplishment.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to serve Wright, Wyoming,” said Visionary CEO Brian Worthen. “Wright is another important page in our portfolio of service to small – and often-times isolated – communities in the western United States. Those communities have become the backbone of our business, and we are honored to be a partner in this venture.”
Visionary identified 1,199 users in and around Wright that suffer from slow or no internet service at all, referred to as underserved and unserved. The grant award identified 57 homes and businesses as underserved and 1,142 as unserved, meaning these locations did not have acceptable internet speeds by the modern definition.
The $3.13 million project will provide fiber connectivity to those homes and businesses on the high plains of eastern Wyoming in and around the town of Wright with future-proof internet connectivity.
“The project is entirely fiber, delivering a Fiber to the Home product capable of symmetric gigabit speeds. Fiber is the latest and most scalable technology and is expected to be the standard for years to come,” explained Brian Worthen, CEO of Visionary, during the event.
Wright Mayor Ralph Kingan added: “The Wright project is a continuation of Visionary’s mission to locate underserved and unserved rural communities in the intermountain west and provide them with state-of-the-art, fast and reliable internet service. We are so pleased to partner with them here and now offer this critical and dependable service within our community.”
Federal funding for the program came from the Capital Projects Fund. The U.S. Treasury launched the Capital Projects Fund in 2021, as part of the American Rescue Plan. It provides money for local and state governments to build critical infrastructure in communities across the country. All projects must be completed by Dec. 31, 2026 in order to receive full funding.
About Visionary Broadband:
Visionary Broadband was founded in 1994 in a rural community in Wyoming. It is a homegrown company that has developed technical abilities with a focus on reliability. Today, the rural internet provider serves five states and has a proven track record of connecting the most rural communities, bringing a commitment of efficiency, reliability and affordability to its customers. To learn more visit,
https://www.vcn.com/