WYOMING – Visionary Broadband, an industry leader in providing high-speed, reliable internet service to
rural communities in the intermountain west, has received 15 grant awards to provide and improve
broadband in remote areas of Wyoming. The awards were finalized in January of this year, and Visionary
plans to complete fiber construction by the end of 2024.
The 15 projects granted to Visionary are part of the Connect Wyoming project totaling $26.6 million.
Visionary contributed $8.3 million of its own capital in grant matches to complete these projects, more
than 30 percent of the project costs. The grants to Visionary are part of a larger $111 million broadband
program sponsored by the Wyoming Business Council Broadband Office.
“We made significant contributions of Visionary’s own monies to invest in these important broadband
projects,” stated Brian Worthen, CEO of Visionary Broadband. “We did this intentionally to show how
serious we are building out rural connectivity and doing the right thing for the communities in which we
serve.” Worthen also discussed the areas served by the fiber projects, including Centennial and Glendo,
Wyoming.
The funding enables Visionary to provide fiber broadband to 5,160 customers in rural Wyoming. These
locations were identified by the State of Wyoming as not having acceptable speeds by modern
definition. The project is entirely fiber, delivering a Fiber to the Home product (FTTH) capable of
symmetric gigabit speeds. Fiber is the latest and most scalable technology and is expected to be the
standard for years to come.
To meet the new high-speed requirements of the federal government and the Wyoming Broadband
Office, broadband constructed with the grant funds must provide upload and download speeds of 100
Mbps, or megabits per second. The old requirements were 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up.
The Wyoming Business Council’s goal is to ensure that every citizen and business in The Cowboy State
has access to affordable, state-of-the-art, reliable and future-proof internet service.
“The Broadband Office did a phenomenal job awarding grants in the areas of greatest need to meet the
federal requirements. It was not a small lift. We’re proud of the fact that in many of the communities we
were awarded grants, work is already underway,” expressed Greg Worthen who heads up community
engagement in Wyoming.
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/