Pennington is poised to meet the MN speed goals for both 2022 and 2026. They made a huge leap into availability before 2018, after receiving several MN grants.
| Percentage of Served Population by Speed and Date | |||
| Pennington | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 96.18 | 90.75 | 9.63 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 97.21 | 91.78 | 91.78 |
Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved
Pennington County has benefited from several MN broadband grants:
- 2017 – Sjoberg’s Inc. – NW MN Rural Broadband – GRANT $307,088
Serving 98 unserved households, 10 unserved businesses, and 3 community anchor institutions in a large area west of Thief River Falls in Pennington County with service levels to 1 Gbps down and up. - 2016 – CENTURYLINK THIEF RIVER MIDDLE MILE – GRANT: $1,324,400
Serving 491 unserved households and 118 unserved businesses in a 71.4 mile fiber build from Thief River to Roseau with service levels 25 Mbps download by 3 Mbps. - 2016 – GARDEN VALLEY TELEPHONE COMPANY RURAL THIEF RIVER FALLS EAST – GRANT: $2,027,035
Serving 330 unserved households, 23 unserved businesses, and 2 community anchor institutions in rural Thief River Falls with service levels to 1 Gigabit per second up and down.
Pennington County has done well with engaged providers. They need to continue to work with providers to reach the last almost four percent of households in the county.
Pennington County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, Wikstrom and Garden Valley applied to upgrade service in Pennington. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)
Checklist:
- 100/20 ranking: 11 (up from 12)
- 25/3 ranking: 16
- Has worked with Blandin: yes
- Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
- Household density: 9.4
- Number of providers: 6
Details:
- There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
- Districts: CD 7
Senate: 01
House: 01A, 01B - 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)
Blandin on Broadband 