Mille Lacs County is not poised to meet the broadband speed goals for 2022 or 2026.
| Percentage of Served Population by Speed and Date | |||
| Mille Lacs | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 52.77 | 54.42 | 47.07 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 83.86 | 62.00 | 47.57 |
Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved
Mille Lacs County has been working on broadband for a while. They were part of the Blandin Broadband Communities (BBC) initiative from 2012-2014 when much of the community admittedly went from not knowing what broadband was to needing it. In 2015, they released a feasibility study.
Mille Lacs County benefited from one MN broadband grant:
- 2016 – BENTON COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE COMPANY BOCK – GRANT: $510,000
Serving 337 unserved households, 37 unserved businesses and 1 community anchor institution in the city of Bock and portions of Hayland and Borgholm Townships in Mille Lacs County with service levels to 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload.
They applied for more funding in 2017 but didn’t get it. They need to continue to build partnerships and apply for future funding.
Mille Lacs County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, Advantenon applied to upgrade service in Mille Lacs. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)
Checklist:
- 100/20 ranking: 67 (down from 49)
- 25/3 ranking: 46
- Has worked with Blandin: yes
- Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
- Household density: 14.9
- Number of providers: 9
Details:
- Find more articles on broadband in Mille Lacs County (http://tinyurl.com/h7wcdjj)
- Districts: CD 8
Senate: 15
House: 15A - Find your reps
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. I’m looking at progress toward the 2022 (25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up) and 2026 (100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up) and will code each:
- Red (yikes)
- Yellow (warning)
- Green (good shape)