North Dakota says it’s now on track to ensure all homes and businesses can connect to high-speed internet service.

Even with some accessibility issues to sort out, this rural-centric state feels poised to lead the nation in closing gaps. North Dakota’s Information Technology office said with federal approval of its latest plan to distribute broadband infrastructure grants, it could achieve 100% connectivity by 2028. That could potentially make North Dakota the first state to do so.

Broadband program director Brian Newby added that regional projects typically aren’t the bare minimum in terms of required internet speed, giving customers more flexibility to take advantage of technology such as telehealth.

“The telehealth could even emerge actually further from just a visit with a doctor to being able to show, basically, any kind of your health records or that sort of thing during the visit,” Newby said.

Telehealth is often cited in helping address the rural health-care crisis. North Dakota’s latest plan uses federal funding from the 2021 infrastructure law, which began under the Biden administration. The Trump White House revised the rules, citing the need to speed up grant deployment, but it also cut a mandate of low-cost options from service providers. North Dakota says its updated bidding should keep expenses lower, and remaining funds could go toward affordability.

Carissa Swenson, executive director of the Broadband Association of North Dakota, said she is happy to hear this news. The state is often praised for its broadband expansion efforts, but due to its rural nature, hasn’t always fared well in rankings for reasonably priced customer plans.

Swenson said affordability is a complex issue, and she credited North Dakota for the way it’s distributing the funds.

“They’re not fly-by-night companies,” she said. “They’re awarding it to companies that are established and have a proven track record of doing the right thing.”

Swenson said keeping prices in check for lower-income households could be aided by reforms to the Universal Service Fund. It provides several billion dollars each year to telecommunications programs geared toward underserved populations, including high-speed internet in rural areas. The fund recently survived a challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court, but a bipartisan panel in Congress is looking at ways to modernize it.