Federated Rural Electric of Jackson, Minnesota, has acquired Back 40 Wireless, and will now be renamed to Federated Broadband. They will also be applying for fiber grant or loan funding.
Federated CEO Scott Reimer says this is a great thing for his company and for Back 40:
“We’re happy to have them, took a long time to get here, but we’re here and we’re going to make the absolute best of it and get our membership served the way they deserve to be served and try to bridge this digital divide.”
Federated Broadband will be taking on the three employees of Back 40, and previous owner Troy Rasmussen will become the Department Manager, overseeing daily internet operations.
When asked if things may be changing a bit for Back 40 customers due to the switch, Reimer assured that things would stay the same:
“Well, for the customers of Back 40, they should see absolutely no change. We do plan to take a look at the packages that they have and the pricing, and of course we want to make the product better if we can, but the same great service you got from Back 40, I think Federated has its own good name, and so we hope to bring that into the picture and grow it from there, but no change for the current customers other than trying to make things better if we can.”
He notes that previously scheduled projects will still be pursued, such as Federated’s plans to expand broadband into Heron Lake, Minnesota, and to acquire grants for that project.
