Rank: 86
Code: Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Pine County: near bottom of the broadband ranking

Pine County has been actively seeking better broadband for years; they were part of a Blandin Broadband Communities cohort a few years ago. Unfortunately, much of Pine County is served by one large national provider. That may be a bottleneck to better access in those areas, because as we noted last year, lack of competition can impact the drive for improvement.

Moose Lake Gazette and MPR took a look at broadband life in Pine County. AT&T deployed a FirstNet tower in Pine County.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Pine is $5,736,665; broadband is one possible use.

They were cohorts in Blandin’s inaugural Accelerate! program, a process to spur community acquisition and deployment of federal and state broadband funds. Also, they got Blandin funding in August to do a feasibility study, which is often a solid step to getting better broadband. I think the projects with Blandin will help them invest ARP in broadband.

They are still code red, but that represents their barriers more than their hard work and perseverance.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants

• 2017 – SCI (Savage Communications Inc.) — Dell Grove Township Broadband Expansion – GRANT $118,248

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Pine County (http://tinyurl.com/ha8burg)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 86 (down 2)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant
• Household density: 7.97

Details:

• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 11
  House: 11A, 11B
• 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)