Rank: 11
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Anoka County Almost there
Anoka County ranks 11 (up 4 places) for broadband access and 6 for digital equity out of 87 counties. They have stayed constant with about 96 percent coverage of broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up since 2017. They have 4367 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $43 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.
| County | Residential Location Density | number of residential locations | ≥ 100 Mbps Download/20 Mbps Upload Speeds | unserved households | Cost to close gap |
| Anoka | 254.3 | 113,461 | 98.93 | 1214 | 11290200 |
Anoka received an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant in 2013, which has helped serve government facilities. It has taken a while for broadband to get to residents but at almost 99 percent coverage, it’s getting very close. In 2023, Comcast was awarded more than $2.5 million to bring fiber to more than 1200 residents in Nowthen. Both Comcast and MidCo have applied for Border to Border grants in to the Office of Broadband Development; decision should be announced Winter 2024.
Anoka gets a green ranking because they are so close to goal. Anoka is part of the seven county metro area, which means the population density is much of the county makes it an attractive market for providers, but there are certainly rural parts to Anoka County as well.
Broadband Access:
| Anoka | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 98.93 | 96.64 | 97.41 | 97.14 | 97.45 | 97.86 | 96.1 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 99.22 | 97.72 | 98.72 | 98.57 | 98.8 | 98.87 | 97.56 |
Previous Grants:
- 2023: Comcast-Xfinity – Comcast/City of Nowthen – GRANT $2,549,413
- 2022: Tekstar Communications Inc, dba Arvig, $219,727
- 2013: The County received federal (ARRA) funding in 2013. In partnership with Zayo, the County was able to build a 287-mile broadband network for government facilities.
Find more articles on broadband in Anoka County.(http://tinyurl.com/zuvt4x7)
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)
The maps below on the left comes from the Office of Broadband Development interactive map, reflecting data updated on Oct 31, 2023. Red dots represent locations unserved with wireline broadband; the Orange dots represent underserved locations. The map on the right comes from the FCC National Broadband map showing access to wired and licensed fixed wireless access, the darker the color, the greater percentage of broadband coverage.
