Almost $20 million in state grants have gone to 17 communities in Minnesota to expand broadband and make the case to legislators (and the general public) that such investments are wise and have a valuable Return on Investment. I wanted to delve into each project a bit to help us follow the money as it gets deployed. (See other awardee posts.)
Sjoberg Cable, Broadband Grant Proposal. Awarded $261,575 to provide broadband services to 107 unserved and 49 underserved locations using fiber-to- the-premise technology, predominantly in extremely rural and agricultural areas. The project would build-out in five areas in Roseau County near Roseau, Warroad and Salol. The total project costs are $523,150; the remaining $261,575 (50 percent local match) will be provided by Sjoberg’s Inc.
Community and Economic Development Impact: The project will connect several pockets of businesses, homes and farms to fiber, leveraging a recent middle mile build-out that was part of the USDA Rural Utilities Service’s Broadband Initiatives Program. Access to high-speed broadband services will enhance the overall quality of life, spur economic development, and improve services delivered by critical community and public safety entities.
High-speed broadband is critical to major businesses in the area, such as Marvin Windows and Polaris Industries that have local world headquarters here along with a worldwide footprint. High-speed connections for small businesses located in the grant project area will enhance their ability to be subcontractors to these larger businesses.
Sjoberg Cable received $866,000 from ARRA stimulus funds in 2010 to deploy FTTP in Roseau, Thief River Falls, and the hamlet of Fox. Dick Sjoberg is on the Minnesota Broadband Task Force; so I get to hear about the that area regularly. He has done a good job representing rural providers at the Task force. It was a conversation between Dick and Travis Carter at US Internet that really punctuated the differences in wholesale broadband to each location…
Access (Gig) to the backbone in Minneapolis costs a provider 50 cents a month. In Red Wing it’s more like a dollar. In Thief River Falls, it’s $10,000-$20,000 a month. Clearly when wholesale costs vary so much, retail is a different game in remote areas.
The state broadband grant should help close that cost gap – at least for the deployment stage.
Just to help track progress, here are some recent stats on Rosaeu County:
On broadband (Connect MN final stats from 2014):
- Household Density: 3.7
- Number of Households: 6,300
- Percentage serviced (without mobile): 45.67%
- Percentage serviced (with mobile): 45.67%
Census quick facts (from 2013):
- Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2009-2013: $103,800
- Per capita money income in past 12 months (2013 dollars), 2009-2013: $25,650
- Persons below poverty level, percent, 2009-2013: 9.7%
- Private nonfarm establishments, 2012: 411
- Private nonfarm employment, 2012: 7.142