Broadband coming to St. Mary - eventually

St. Mary will finally see broadband Internet access, although it may take awhile to actually be implemented.

The National Park Service issued permits on April 18 that give CenturyLink clearance to deploy broadband Internet service to the rural community of St. Mary, on the eastern boundary of Glacier National Park.

The project involves taking down an existing 50-foot tall communication tower inside the Park in the St. Mary administrative area and replacing it with an 80-foot microwave antenna and radio support structure. The tower will also include up to three Park communication antennas.

Currently, Internet users in the St. Mary have only a dial-up connection through CenturyLink. The company does not have a set time frame for project completion, said John Bemis, a local marketing manager for CenturyLink.

The deployment is part of a 2008 agreement between Qwest and the Public Service Commission to extend high-speed Internet service to 27 under served areas in Montana. CenturyLink purchased Qwest in 2010 and assumed the company’s digital subscriber line (DSL) deployment obligations.

Since then, 26 of those communities, including West Glacier, have been upgraded. St. Mary will be the last one.