In 2014, more than 26 percent of Todd County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with lower speeds back then.) Today 46 percent of the county has access to broadband speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and more than 3 percent has access to the 2026 speed goals of 100/20.

Todd County has been working on broadband for years. They had a feasibility study done in 2011. They were involved as a Blandin Get Broadband community, which is a precursor of sorts to the Blandin Broadband Communities. It helped them focus on increased broadband use. Unfortunately, there is still work to be done.

In 2015, Todd County benefited from a Border to Border broadband grant…

Arvig (Mainstreet Communications LLC), Sauk Lake area. Awarded $536,702 to build broadband infrastructure to serve 217 unserved premises in the Sauk Lake area, which is located primarily in Todd County (with some project area in rural Stearns County) just north of Sauk Centre. This is an unserved area where no wired broadband infrastructure is available. The full project cost is $1.07 million; the remaining $536,703 (50 percent) will be supplied by a private investment made by Arvig.

Todd County is in line to receive $387,849 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 796 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: 46.01
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 2.86

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 59.62 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Todd County (http://tinyurl.com/gl47tgq)
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 09
  House: 09A, 09B

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!