StoneBridge Wireless Broadband Achieves Key Milestones for Federal Access Deployment Funding

StoneBridge Wireless Broadband, one of the largest next-generation broadband providers in the Midwest United States, has successfully fulfilled the performance requirements of a $4.2 million federal loan to spread broadband to 31 Minnesota communities. It has delivered high-speed wireless access to more than 31 Minnesota communities since 2001.

Eden Prairie, MN (PRWEB) March 23, 2005 -- StoneBridge Wireless Broadband, one of the largest next-generation broadband providers in the Midwest United States, has successfully fulfilled the performance requirements of a $4.2 million federal loan to spread broadband to 31 Minnesota communities.

StoneBridge received the grant from the US Department of Agriculture, to drive affordable broadband service to underserved communities between 2,500 and 20,000 residents throughout central Minnesota.

RUS funding was extremely important to our company in its early phase of deployment and expansion," noted StoneBridge founder and president Stephen Gowdy. We wanted to meet the needs of Minnesotas underserved communities because we believed that demand was high and service was a competitive necessity for those seeking to compete with downtown businesses in their markets. This has proven true, and we have a large and thriving subscriber base to demonstrate the viability of broadly distributed deployment. The RUS administration has asked us to reapply to the program, and we are considering doing so."

Since 1995, the Rural Utilities Service Broadband Access grant and loan program has made grants and loans for private firms to expand broadband access in the United States. While application is selective, the agency has made available billions of dollars every year to accelerate broadband deployment to more than 1400 communities. Minnesota, Missouri, Texas and Kansas were the most active applicant states. See http://www.usda.gov/rus/telecom/index.htm for more information.

StoneBridge now serves more than 600 business and government agency users as diverse as farm and construction equipment dealers, contracting firms, regional healthcare providers, legal and real estate offices, city governments, fire departments, credit unions and mortgage offices. The companys extensive service footprint can be found at http://www.sbwireless.net/coverage.html.

The StoneBridge16-county service territory in Minnesota and Wisconsin extends wireless broadband to a wide variety of demanding SOHO, small-to-large enterprise, public sector and municipal users today. Offerings include broadband Internet access from 1Mbps to 1.25 Gbps, wireless VLAN, WAN and VPN services, as well as a range of specialized applications to meet enterprise, community and carrier networking requirements.

Minnesota cities and suburban/rural communities served by StoneBridge Broadband Wireless include Albertville, Andover, Anoka, Apple Valley, Arden Hills, Big Lake, Blaine, Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Buffalo, Burnsville, Champlin, Coon Rapids, Corcoran, Dayton, Eagan, Eden Prairie, Elk River, Forest Lake, Golden Valley, Greenfield, Ham Lake, Hamel, Hanover, Hassen, Hopkins, Hugo, Independence, Lakeville, Lino Lakes, Loretto, Maple Grove, Maple Plain, Medina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Monticello, Orono, Osseo, Otsego, Plymouth, Ramsey, Red Wing, Rogers, Rosemount, Savage, Shakopee, St. Louis Park, St. Michael, St. Paul, Wayzata and White Bear Lake. Wisconsin cities served include
Hudson and River Falls.

About StoneBridge Wireless Broadband
Stonebridge Wireless Broadband is a network service provider delivering broadband connectivity solutions to unserved and underserved businesses and communities in the Midwest United States. StoneBridge presents a cost-effective, highly-reliable alternative to traditional wireline networks by providing an adaptable service footprint, rapid deployment, faster speeds and a suite of mainstream enterprise network applications. Founded in 2000 and one of the first service provider members of the WiMAX ForumÔ, the company is privately funded. It operates a wireless Ethernet backbone and a highly dense footprint of wireless services in its target markets of Minnesota, Michigan and Oklahoma. For more information, call 952-548-8586 or go to www.sbwireless.net.

Media Contacts:
Jill Budzynski, Tina Tan
Market Ready Public Relations
763-548-8208
jmb@marketready.com

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