Imagine having the luxury of multiple job offers. That’s the case for Mitchell Technical Institute’s Telecommunications program graduates. In fact, there are 33 jobs open for just 17 students.

SDN Communications is actively helping recruit future students to MTI’s program because it’s the future of our workforce. Yesterday, KELOLAND TV featured our partnership on the 10pm news. Almost $800,000 of the $20 million federal stimulus grant awarded to SDN is going to pay for lab equipment at MTI so students can get relevant, hands-on experience, which will lead them into good jobs – a goal of the stimulus effort.

Twenty percent of SDN’s workforce graduated from MTI. We anticipate more coming from there. In fact, KELO’s Ben Dunsmoor interviewed student Travis Williamson. He’s coming to work at SDN next month.

Click here to see the story

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=130518

Over a year ago, SDN was awarded with a Broadband Stimulus grant, set to be completed late 2012. How are we doing? How many miles of fiber do we have left to lay? What does the NTIA and BTOP think of SDN's progress? Click here to read more.

Read the full story here, in Prairie Business Magazine. Mark Shlanta was interviewed about the Broadband Stimulus progress so far and is quoted saying, "SDN’s new fiber will provide connectivity to more than 300 anchor institutions – schools, rural hospitals and clinics, government office buildings, and local, county, state and federal office buildings – across the state. The communications company is approximately three-quarters complete and has built 250-350 miles of fiber and touched more than 200 anchor institutes. The remainder of the $25.7 million project is expected to be completed by the end of the year."

It’s easy to get lost in the technology in delivering broadband services, but it’s the human element that makes it a worthwhile, rewarding career. That’s been reinforced with me recently.

Just before Christmas, SDN turned up high-speed broadband services to the schools along Highway 14 between Huron and Brookings. Students and staff in Iroquois, De Smet, Lake Preston, Arlington and Volga have long been starved for faster service. They’ve been receiving their services via old, copper phone lines. SDN’s fiber delivers the service up to five times faster – 10 Megabits per second.

Five school districts on U.S. Highway 14 between Huron and Brookings are kicking off 2012 with a big broadband boost that will offer students better, faster internet tools. The Argus Leader and  KSFY also picked up the story and KDLT ran a spot showcasing SDN's turn-up of services along the Highway 14 corridor.

BT Openreach, a UK telecom, is planning a fiber-to-the-home build that will offer 300 Mbps speeds. The company is investing $2.5 billion into the project. Japan, Korea and the Netherlands all currently offer gigabit broadband speeds in select areas. The US is now lagging farther behind with an average connection speed of 5.1 Mbps.