Le Sueur is well served with 90 percent having access to broadband speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and 83 percent having access to 100/20. And their situation may get even better.

Eckles Telephone will receive $188,000 to serve 51 unserved households, seven unserved businesses, 40 underserved households, and four underserved businesses in the rural Heidelberg area. Once residents and business owners have their copper internet cables switched to fiber, they will have a choice of four different speeds, ranging from 30 megabytes to 1 gigabyte. A few years ago, Le Sueur (like many counties) was fairly well served in cities and towns and much less served between towns, but it looks like these gaps are getting filled.

Le Sueur County is also in line to receive $1,579,260 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 2,859 locations. 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.

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: 39
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 78

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 32.25 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Le Sueur County (http://tinyurl.com/jbg7ghy)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 19, 20, 23
  House: 19A, 20A, 20B, 23B

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!