Geoff Feiss, the general manager of the Montana Telecommunications Association, said Montana’s geography has made it financially unfeasible for companies to dig expensive trenches and acquire right-of-way for backup lines.

“It’s much easier to be triply or quadruply backed up in a place like New York City,” he said. “When you have a state like Montana, it costs twice as much.”

Feiss compared the CenturyLink line in the Bitterroot to a backbone.

“It’s the only one in and out of the valley, and that’s a shame,” he said.

His 10 member organizations wouldn’t be opposed to a state or federal law requiring backup lines, he said.

“But somebody’s gonna have to pay for it,” he explained. “Especially in rural states like Montana, the more resources we can bring together, the more likely it is we can overcome the continuing barriers we’re facing. Rural providers are doing as much as they can as fast as they can.”

Feiss said he’s supportive of the new $600 million ReConnect Program that will be administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The initiative is meant to expand high-speed Internet access to rural communities around the country through both grants and loans.