Morrison County is not poised to make the state speed goals for 2022 or 2026 but they recently saw an increase in access. If they can build on that momentum, they will come closer to the goals.
| Percentage of Served Population by Speed and Date | |||
| 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 69.94 | 42.74 | 28.83 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 76 | 71.04 | 69.24 |
Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved
Morrison County is part of the Resilient Region and has been included in their research and Blandin Broadband Community (BBC) activities…
Research unveiled at the conference found that, combined, Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd and Wadena counties could see more than $78.6 million in economic benefits over 15 years if broadband access and use improved. Tech expert Robert Gallardo, assistant director at the Purdue Center for Regional Development, produced profiles of all Minnesota counties using his Digital Divide Index.
Morrison County benefited from three MN broadband grants:
- 2017 – Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Rice Ramey – GRANT $765,015
Serving 250 unserved households and 73 unserved businesses in the area northeast of Rice in Benton and Morrison Counties with services of 100 Mbps download by 20 Mbps upload. - 2016 – BENTON COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE COMPANY BUCKMAN – GRANT: $276,230
Serving 130 unserved households, 17 unserved businesses and 1 community anchor institution in the city of Buckman and sections of Buckman and Morrill Townships in Morrison with service levels to 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps up. - 2014 – Consolidated Telephone Cooperative, Region 5 Virtual Highway Project
Award: $2 million. Total project cost: $4.22 million. Impact: Service to 247 unserved and 90 underserved premises in Cass, Crow Wing and Morrison counties.
Morrison County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, Benton Coop applied to upgrade service in Morrison. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)
Checklist:
- 100/20 ranking: 53 (up from 59)
- 25/3 ranking: 65
- Has worked with Blandin: yes
- Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
- Household density: 11.3
- Number of providers: 11
Details:
- Find more articles on broadband in Morrison County (http://tinyurl.com/hxkk5ur)
- Districts: CD 8Senate: 9, 15House: 09B, 15B
- 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)
