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CVA will soon bring internet to area residents

YORK — Central Valley Ag announced it is expanding access to broadband internet to residents of Randolph and several other communities.

The service, which will also be made available in Duncan, Elgin, Humphrey, Monroe, Oakland, Petersburg, Platte Center, St. Edward, Wakefield and West Point, is in collaboration with internet service provider Nextlink, Land O’Lakes and Microsoft’s Airband Initiative.

“Our mission is to embrace the cooperative spirit to deliver value to our members,” said Carl Dickinson, President/CEO of CVA. “This partnership demonstrates the cooperative spirit and providing reliable broadband connectivity will deliver value to our members.”

Nextlink has installed high-speed broadband technology to CVA facilities, improving access to broadband connectivity throughout the area. This effort to improve internet connectivity has the potential to directly benefit residents in these rural areas who are currently unable to access adequate broadband service at their homes, businesses, or farming operations.

“We are so grateful to partner with CVA to accelerate the build-out of our highspeed internet network across Nebraska,” said Bill Baker, CEO of Nextlink Internet. “The partnership will result in widespread residential download speeds of up to100 Mbps across rural communities within CVA’s operational footprint as well as facilitate precision agriculture deployments utilizing cheaper, more stable networks. Nextlink’s partnership with CVA along with Land O’Lakes and Microsoft’s Airband Initiative make it possible to bring affordable and dependable high-speed internet to drive economic development through advancements in precision agriculture, homebased employment, distance learning, and telemedicine to those rural communities in need. CVA has empowered Nextlink to accomplish these efforts much faster for the CVA members and the public at large within the communities they operate.”

Not only is broadband increasingly critical to daily life, it also enables precision agriculture, increasing yields, improving productivity, and boosting profit potentials.

Yet, according to the Federal Communications Commission, more than 14 million Americans do not have access to broadband, including nearly a quarter of Americans living in rural areas. Additionally, 60 percent of farmers say they lack the connectivity needed to run their business. This effort by CVA, Nextlink, Land O’Lakes, and Microsoft’s Airband Initiative aims to address these gaps.

“Rural America cannot be cut off from opportunity available throughout the rest of the United States,” said Vickie Robinson, general manager of Microsoft’s Airband Initiative. “By investing in partnerships like this, we can ensure rural communities get the connectivity they deserve to thrive in the 21st century economy.”

CVA is part of the Land O’Lakes member network helping to bridge the digital divide through awareness and advocacy through its American Connection Project, and Nextlink is a partner of Microsoft’s Airband Initiative, working to eliminate the rural broadband gap by partnering across the U.S. and throughout the globe to bring access to affordable connectivity.

Plans are being made to bring service to additional communities in the CVA geography, including Hooper; Scribner; Snyder; Tilden; Royal; Polk; and Bee besides several Kansas and Iowa communities.

“We’re so excited to be partnering with these organizations to bring real solutions for the lack of broadband access in these communities,” said Teddy Bekele, Chief Technology Officer at Land O’Lakes. “As a farmer-owned co-op with deep roots across rural America, Land O’Lakes will continue to raise awareness and devise more ways to increase access to digital connectivity for all Americans.”

Customers in or around the Nebraska towns of Duncan, Elgin, Humphrey, Monroe, Oakland, Petersburg, Platte Center, Randolph, St. Edward, Wakefield and West Point, who are interested in this new broadband connectivity, are encouraged to visit the website nextlinkinternet.com/lp/cva to learn more and register to determine if the service is available at their location.

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