Broadband has never been all over the news the way it has been for the last 6 weeks – but in Minnesota is feel like it’s all stimulus package and maps, I haven’t seen as much news from the ground. That is to say news of fiber going in, wireless goign up or local innovation.

My real hope is that those stories are hitting the headlines soon.

Also, $4 billion doesn’t go that far spread across 50 states. That’s only $80 million a state. While you can build something significant for that, we’re only talking about regional networks, not state-wide networks.

The key for Minnesota is to get out ahead of this issue and show that you have more shovel-ready rural broadband projects that will deliver next-generation connectivity to unserved and underserved areas than any other state.

At the same time, need to be careful not to allow johny-come-latelys to stroll in and take away money from projects that are truly shovel-ready. Already I’ve been hearing from communities saying, “Well, if there’s free money, maybe we should deploy broadband.” Those aren’t the ones we should be rewarding; it’s those communities that have already been progressive and are ready to move quickly that should get priority.

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