Advance in broadband coverage brings rural South Dakota out of digital darkness

Since 2018, big jump in homes with high-speed Internet; state leadership credited

A Midco work crew installs broadband Internet fiber. (courtesy photo)

South Dakota is closing the gap in broadband Internet service, according to new numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, with much of the credit going to a government-private program that helped bring high-speed connectivity to the entire state.

Nearly 89 percent of the state had a broadband subscription, based on Census numbers released Dec. 12. Those numbers were part of the federal agency’s five-year American Community Survey, measuring demographic and economic changes between 2019-2023. In the previous five-year survey, 78 percent of respondents had access to broadband.

Over that same period, total households with a computer increased to 94 percent, up from 87 percent.

“We are revitalizing small town America with this investment. And we are preserving our way of life,” Gov. Kristi Noem said last year when the final round of $270 million worth of grants were distributed through the state’s Connect SD broadband program, helping Internet providers bring service to tens of thousands that had still been in digital darkness.

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