MinnPost ran an article yesterday that highlighted Minnesota broadband successes and shortstops. Reporter Devin Henry spoke to Municipal Network Advocate Chris Mitchell and industry representative Brent Christensen. Both shared their opinions on what’s working, what isn’t and what could best work to promote ubiquitous broadband in Minnesota.

Chris rallies for public networks…

“Because there is no real competition, the existing providers do a really poor job, especially in rural areas,” he said. “There’s basically two [solutions]: one is public ownership in the form of municipal networks or co-ops, the other is regulation. … I would argue right now that regulation is not really an option given the power of Comcast in D.C.”

Brent advocates for working within the industry to reach the unserved…

The Telecom Alliance is uncomfortable with the DFL’s rural broadband proposal, Christensen said, arguing its focus should be on completely unserved areas rather than those that have Internet, just not as quick as the state would like. If the pot of money is too large, he said, some could go to establishing municipal networks that have proven fiscally shaky.

“They’ve been sold a bill of goods, that they need their own network,” he said.

He said his group would prefer to “work with local government and identify who really doesn’t have it, and who needs its, and how are we going to get it to them?”

The article talks about networks in Scott County, Monticello, Crosslake, Barnesville, Lac qui Parle County and Sibley County. I won’t recount their stories here since I’ve written about them in the past; but the article is a quick refresher if you’ve heard the stories before and a quick read if you want to get up to speed.

My colleague Bill Coleman has joined the conversation with a comment to the article. Bill has been working with communities to promote and develop broadband expansion for at least the 15+ years I have known him. He speaks to what he has seen on the frontlines…

In 2010, the state’s first broadband task force recommended, and our elected officials set in statute, a goal of 10 – 20 Mbps broadband availability everywhere in Minnesota. Mr. Christensen representing the MTA and representatives of Qwest and Comcast are signatories to that goal.

Since that time, county and community citizen task forces across the state have organized in pursuit of that goal. The first step taken by each and every task force has been a call to their incumbent telephone companies with requests for service improvements, petitions of anxious customers, offers to joint venture and finance, and commitment to implement community-led efforts to drum up market demand for prospective broadband network improvements. Any response from incumbent providers has been limited.

It’s all part of a conversation related to the $25 million still up for discussion in the Legislature for broadband expansion in rural Minnesota.