Daniel Friesen doesn’t want geography to be the determining factor of whether Kansas communities have access to high-quality broadband service. He started a company in Buhler dedicated to providing fiber-to-the-home internet and was prepared to leap when the COVID-19 pandemic exposed consequences of service gaps in education, commerce, health care and at home in Kansas. That’s when the federal government began pouring CARES Act relief money into the states, and Kansas officials earmarked $50 million of that largess for broadband expansion. Friesen, founder and chief innovative officer of IdeaTek, took on 66 broadband projects in rural, underserved areas of 17 Kansas counties. Contracts valued at $18 million unleashed dozens of plows and bore machines. It led to installation of hundreds of miles of cable and construction of 70 telecommunications towers.
Source: Kansas Reflector
