Today Bill Coleman talked about broadband with local officials serving on the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC). They have board members that represent local units of government, including townships, cities, counties, tribal governments and school districts as well as citizen at large members.

The Arrowhead Region covers the most territory of any Minnesota region.The region has seen extensive fiber to the home network deployment, primarily by Paul Bunyan Communications, Arrowhead Electric, Lake County and, most recently, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.  Additional groups are working, through collaboration and innovation, to improve broadband services.

Bill noted that with relatively low population densities spread across heavily forested and mineral rich counties, these are some of the most challenging areas in the state in which to provide broadband services.  Projects in the area have benefited from strong community leadership and both federal and state broadband funds.