On Monday it was announced that Minnesota is allocated $652 million to expand broadband use in the state. Lots of local media is picking up the story. I thought I’d collect a pretty random sampling of what folks are saying. I tried to pick the unique or most perspective driven comments from the various stories:
U-S Senator Amy Klobuchar says a huge federal grant coming to Minnesota — nearly 652 million dollars — in her best estimate will extend reliable and affordable high-speed internet access to all remaining households in the state that currently don’t have it. She says, “We can always supplement later, but this is such a game-changer in terms of the amount of money.” Klobuchar says about 136 thousand Minnesota households and small businesses don’t have broadband internet access — and the expansion will help students and businesses, as well as farmers who want to use precision agriculture. She says grants will start going out next year and predicts companies will make bids to extend service — because although fiber-optic is the priority, satellite and other technologies are also allowed. And Klobuchar says, if any company doesn’t deliver high-speed service as promised, the money can be “clawed back” and go to other internet providers.
ABC 6…
The state will get $652 million on top of the $100 million already put in place by the 2023 state legislative session to connect 33,000 homes in 48 counties and fund 61 expansion projects.
The new federal funding, created by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, will go toward broadband infrastructure deployment grants administered by the Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Office of Broadband Development.
Last year, over 290,000 households in Minnesota didn’t have access to broadband with 100 mbps for downloads and 20 mbps for uploads, according to the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband 2022 report. Internet speeds around 100 to 200 mbps are ideal for most households, as they can handle streaming and video chat for multiple users at once.
One in three rural Minnesota households doesn’t have access to 100/20 mbps internet, according to the report.
The governor’s broadband report estimates that it will cost Minnesota over $1.38 billion between 2022 and 2026 to connect the more than 290,000 households to the internet with at least 100/20 mbps speeds. The average cost per connection is $9,500, according to the report.
High-speed internet access isn’t an issue that’s exclusive to rural areas. Formerly redlined neighborhoods in Minneapolis have some of the lowest percentages of broadband internet.
Separately, the Minnesota Legislature approved $100 million in state funding for broadband development last month. Between that and the newly announced federal money, Klobuchar said Minnesota is poised to come closer than ever to giving every resident access to high-speed internet.
Minnesota has set a goal of offering high-speed internet to all homes and businesses by 2026.
“Minnesota has an ambitious goal to increase broadband access and a collection of providers ready to expand our high-speed network, and we’re grateful our federal partners are helping us pursue broadband for all,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement Monday.
WDIO…
“You’ve got counties like, Pine County, as of last year was at 64% of the residents didn’t have access to high speed,” Sen. Klobuchar said. “There are 136,000 households in our state and small businesses that don’t have high speed. They’re almost all in greater Minnesota”
However, for small businesses operating in rural areas in Northern Minnesota it can be difficult to make a profit when relying on a business website for customers with little to no Internet access. Bryan Nelson, the owner of 218 Handyman Services, provides his services to residents living in rural areas of St. Louis county.
“There’s nothing, not even a cell service. It’s dead,” Nelson said. “It’s okay for camping.” However, Nelson says if he is trying to work he can do a little business while he’s there. “But most of the time I can’t, because there’s nothing.”
Minnesota legislators passed a bill in May that allocates $125 million over the course of fiscal years 2024 and 2025 for border-to-border broadband funding. Twenty million dollars per year is dedicated to lower population density program grants. Lawmakers raised the amount of grant awards available per project from $5 million to $10 million. They created a lower population density grant program. In that program, the state could fund up to 75%, instead of 50%, of the cost of projects in unserved and underserved areas of Minnesota.
In 2016, Minnesota legislators decided to set the state’s broadband goal to be to enable all homes and businesses to have at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds by 2022 and at least 100 Mbps download, 20 Mbps upload speeds by 2026.
States have until 180 days after June 30 to submit their proposals describing how they will run their grant programs, the U.S. Department of Commerce said.
“The BEAD funding will be used to deploy or upgrade broadband networks to ensure that everyone has access to reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet service,” the department said. “Once deployment goals are met, any remaining funding can be used to pursue eligible access-, adoption-, and equity-related uses.”