I am doing the annual look at broadband in each county – based on maps from the Office of Broadband Development and news gathered from the last year.

Renville County has slipped from 42 to 50.

There has been some back and forth on the RS Fiber cooperative broadband provider project, a which provides broadband (fixed wireless and/or FTTH) to parts of Renville and Sibley County. Because there’s so much news I’ll present this county (and Sibley) a little differently. I’ll provide headlines to the various articles related to the county – starting with the earliest article since the last county profile (Feb 2017):

• RS Fiber starts broadband construction on final four cities Brownton, Buffalo Lake, Fairfax, and Stewart
• RS Fiber Cooperative Recognized with Broadcast Communities “Cornerstone Award”
• RS Fiber Cooperative Celebrates Two Year Anniversary
• RS Fiber Announces Faster Wireless Broadband Speeds and Expanded Coverage
• RS Fiber – look back at impact of being a Blandin Broadband Community
• RS Fiber cooperative held up as model solution in New York
• Update on RS Fiber Financial Situation – shortfall notification
• MN Telecom Alliance response to RS Fiber financial news
• RS Fiber Cooperative Enters the Growth Phase
• Despite what the telecom industry says, RS Fiber is a house of opportunity, not a house of cards
• RS Fiber Renville County broadband grant project on track for June 2019 completion
• More info on Border to Border grants in Redwood, Renville, Brown and Watonwan Counties

Info on Access:

• The speeds reflect the Minnesota speed goals:
• 25 Mbps down and 3 up by 2022
• 100 Mbps down and 20 up by 2026

Current ranking for 100/20 access: 50

• RS Fiber has worked with the Blandin Foundation
• Find more articles on broadband in Renville County (http://tinyurl.com/hfazdvf)
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 16, 17
  House: 16B, 17A