Port awarded grant for fiber project

COLFAX — The Port of Whitman County received a $2.49 million grant for high speed broadband in rural areas.

The Port was awarded $2.49 million in funds from the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) for the rural broadband project.

Funds will support the construction of dark fiber to 109 un-served and under-served locations in the county.

Dark fiber is unused fiber optic cables that are not carrying data and can be leased from the network owner by businesses and services.

The leased cables can be used to create private networks for various pur...