Rank: 51
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Morrison County: steady progress but recent grant might help

Morrison County ranks 51 for broadband access and 66 for digital equity out of 87 counties. They have see steady but incremental improvement since we started tracking, landing at 77.57 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up in 2022. They have 3605 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $33.5 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Morrison County will benefit from a ReConnect grant through Upsala Cooperative.

Morrison County has been actively engaged in seeking better broadband for several years, including as part of the Resilient Region as a Blandin Broadband Community.

Officials from Morrison County and the city of Little Falls  met last summer (2022) to discuss ways in which they would work together for better broadband. That didn’t work out for the first round of border to border funding but the second round applications are open now.

Morrison is stays at a yellow code, because while they have seen consistent improvement, they need more.

Broadband Access:

Digital Equity:

Morrison County ranks 80 out of 87 for digital equity. (See full Digital Equity Profile)

Morrison County ranks 66 out of 87 for computer ownership. 88.6 percent of homes have a computer of device as compared to statewide ownership of 95.5 percent.

Past grants:

• 2017 – Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Rice Ramey – GRANT $765,015
• 2016 – BENTON COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE COMPANY BUCKMAN – GRANT: $276,230
• 2014 – Consolidated Telephone Cooperative, Region 5 Virtual Highway Project – Amount $2 million
• 2019: CTC (Consolidated Telephone Company) – Fort Ripley/Executive Acres Project – GRANT $830,587
• 2019: Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Ramey Phase I – GRANT $936,759

• MN State Grants awarded in 2021: Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Ramey Phase 2 Project – GRANT $338,011 This last mile project will serve 119 unserved locations in the Ramey telephone exchange located in portions of Lakin and Mount Morris townships in Morrison County and a small portion of Dailey and Page townships located in Mille Lacs County.

• Sytek Communications – Morrison/Todd/Stearns County FTTP Project – GRANT $1,048,668 This last mile project will bring service to 130 locations in Southwest Morrison, Southeastern Todd and Northeastern Stearns counties.

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Morrison County (http://tinyurl.com/hxkk5ur)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 51 (up 5)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 13.9

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)