Brenda Dela Torriente twines the lines of fiber with precision. Her brows are furrowed as her fingers find the ridges between the cords, working them at an astonishing speed. It's a painstaking process. For the town of Montello, Nevada, it's also a deeply important one.

Those feet of fiber will go in the ground and connect to a miles-long circuit bringing jobs, healthcare, education, economic prosperity, and, of course, high-speed internet.

With a population just over 60, Montello might seem like a strange location for a high-speed fiber optic provider like Beehive Broadband to be hard at work in. But according to Beehive’s CEO and General Manager Cameron Francis, that’s far from the truth.

“We serve several rural communities, many of which are some of the most rural communities in the western United States,” says Francis. “Some of our communities are a three-hour drive from the nearest Walmart. Some of them are 60 miles on a dirt road from the nearest pavement.”

To Francis, the remoteness of communities like Montello only makes their need for the broadband services freely available in more urban areas that much more necessary.

“There’s a school we support there in Montello,” he says. “There’s a church, a community center, a fire station—Montello has a town council. All of those folks who’ve chosen to live a rural lifestyle will have economic opportunities because of broadband. They’ll have opportunities to stay in touch with loved ones. They'll be able to support their small businesses. There's a great community in Montello.”

“We were happy to see the ReConnect program come to be,” said Francis. “ReConnect has been really valuable to us."

There are difficulties, Francis explains, of being a broadband provider in such rural areas.

"We're talking about great distances. Sometimes we can be taking fiber into a community that's many miles away. These are very high-cost areas to build to, there’s a lot of expense involved. It's something that that your bigger telecommunications companies are not going to do, because there's not a great business case."

That’s where USDA Rural Development’s ReConnect program comes in. The ReConnect Loan and Grant Program furnishes loans and grants to provide funds for the costs of construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service in eligible rural areas. USDA has invested a total of $5.13 billion through the ReConnect Program, and over $29 million in rural Nevada. 

“We were happy to see the ReConnect program come to be,” said Francis. “ReConnect has been really valuable to us."

“We've had a great experience working with USDA Rural Development. I think that the organization has been very supportive. They've been encouraging. They've been understanding when complications arise when difficulties arrive and helping us work through those. We're thankful for the help and support of the Rural Utilities Service in these projects.”

And particularly for rural communities like Montello, the broadband access ReConnect funds is an urgent need that is only becoming more important with each passing day.

“High speed internet service to these rural communities really opens up the door for better economies, better commerce, better economic opportunities for these individuals to start and run businesses. I know that since COVID and since the lockdown, a lot of people moved back to rural areas or moved to rural areas to work. And providing this type of service enables that. There's a phrase-- folks can have a big city job but live in a rural community. And I think that's just fantastic. I think it really opens up the world to a lot of folks to be able to do that.”

But for Beehive, the ReConnect program is more than just a funding source for projects—Francis sees it as supporting Beehive’s vision of the future for the rural areas they serve.

“ReConnect has been very valuable to us into supporting our vision for our rural, remote communities,” he said. ““You know, how many times in your life can you do something that's actually meaningful?"

“We're at an inflection point, we're at a transition point in the industry. I think there's a lot of political will for funding broadband development, especially in rural areas. I look forward to building out a robust network for expanding. And I guess we'll see what the future holds.”

And for the small town of Montello, the future is bright.

ReConnect Round 5 funding is available for application until May 21st. Find out more here: ReConnect Loan and Grant Program | USDA