Kandiyohi is a county that is largely underserved. Coverage at speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) is 77 percent but only 8 percent have access to speeds of 100/20, which is the speed goal for 2026. They have made huge strides since 2014, when coverage (albeit for a slower definition of broadband) was 14 percent. They need to upgrade their connectivity and continue to expand it.

The good news is that Consolidated Telecommunications Co. (CTC) was awarded a $4.94 million grant to improve serves in New London, Spicer and Willmar and Frontier was awarded a grant of $1.02 million to improve service in rural Kandiyohi County.

Kandiyohi County is also in line to receive $1,382,302 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 2,060 locations. Representative Baker was pleased to announce the investment. Unfortunately, CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Kandiyohi was Blandin Broadband Community, which means they had support building broadband adoption. One project was a number of public wireless hotspot locations in the county. They have a broadband committee that have spearheaded a feasibility study and encouraged visits from policymakers, such as Lt Governor Tina Smith.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 77.25
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 8.14

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 37.18 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Kandiyohi. (http://tinyurl.com/z9wk7bm)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects; it includes projects from this area.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 17
  House: 17A, 17B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!