In 2010, the FCC listed Norman as one of the nine worst served counties in Minnesota. In 2014, 59 percent of Norman County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with slower speeds back then.) That was an improvement brought about largely by benefiting from an ARRA funded project led by Halsted Telephone.

Since 2014, however, they have slipped to 38 percent having access to speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and 20 percent having access to 100/20.

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: 67
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 52

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 68.85 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Norman County (http://tinyurl.com/zs7nuqj)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 04
  House: 04B

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!