Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Rank (from 100/20 megabits per second): 71
Code: Red

Annually, Blandin Foundation pulls together data from the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development and broadband news to gauge progress toward the state broadband goals (25 megabits per second download/3 Mbps upload by 2022 and 100 Mbps/20 Mbps by 2026). Leaders can use this information to improve broadband access and use in their communities. To see how the state is doing overall, or to compare counties, visit the Blandin Foundation interactive map. Or check out past years’ reports: 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Martin County: incremental improvement, recent grant will help

Martin County has seen an increase in broadband coverage in the last year, yet a slip in ranking, which means they are improving but not as fast as other counties. They will see improvements based on a recent MN Border to Border grant award. And the county was named a Telecommuter Forward, which indicates an interest in broadband use and deployment.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

What we learned in the past:

Martin County was a 2015-2016 Blandin Broadband Community  and through that partnership they had a feasibility study done in 2017.

Martin County has benefited with three state grants:

• 2017- BEVCOMM (Granada Telephone Company) — Granada Rural Final – GRANT: $202,410
• 2016 – GRANADA TELEPHONE COMPANY (DBA BEVCOMM) SOUTH RURAL GRANADA – GRANT:  $157,920
• 2016 – MARTIN COUNTY (WITH FRONTIER) RURAL BROADBAND INITIATIVE – GRANT: $1,677,823

Update from 2020:

Martin County will benefit from a Border to Border grant awarded in the last round:

• BEVCOMM (Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company & Easton Telephone Company) – Rural Faribault County Project – GRANT: $579,781
  This last mile project will upgrade approximately 112 unserved and six underserved households, 50 unserved farms, and eight unserved businesses in areas of Faribault and Martin Counties. In a funding partnership with the State of Minnesota and Faribault County Economic Development Authority, BEVCOMM will improve broadband service levels up to 1 Gbps download and 1 Gbps upload, exceeding the 2022 and 2026 state speed goals. Sustainable broadband adoption will transform these unserved areas into highly-productive rural communities.
• Total eligible project cost is $1,449,451
• Local match is $869,670

Martin County was names a Telecommuter Forward community, which indicates an interest in promoting access and adoption.

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Martin County (http://tinyurl.com/h37zf6l)

• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 71 (down 7)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 12.4

Details:

• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 23
  House: 23A
• 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)