Rank: 41
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Becker County: eking toward total coverage
Becker County ranks 41 for broadband access out of 87 counties. That’s up from 48 last year. They have 84.75 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 2765 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $27.5 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 |
| Becker | 12.5 | 18,130 | 84.75 | 2765 | 25714500 |
Becker County went from 6 percent coverage to 100/20 in 2020. They have had measured increase to the goal since. In 2022, local provider Arvig committed to spending almost $20 million on upgrades in Becker, Otter Tail and Redwood Counties. In 2023, Arvig announced their plan to use E-ACAM funds to bring 100Mbps broadband to Becker, Hubbard, Otter Tail, Redwood, Stearns, Todd Counties.
Becker County residents were awarded 34 line extension funding requests, which means state funding will subsidize last mile broadband extension to their homes.
They get a green rating because they continue to move toward the goal, they are closing the gap between access to 25/3 versus 100/20, which means expansion in the area is better quality and they have providers interested in building out.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 84.75 | 78.45 | 73.42 | 73.41 | 6.22 | 12.95 | 6.58 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 93.96 | 92 | 92.53 | 78.99 | 91.36 | 88.94 | 69.41 |
Grants
- 2016 – PAUL BUNYAN COMMUNICATIONS HUBBARD, BECKER & ITASCA COUNTIES – GRANT: $1,742,232
- Arvig (Loretel Systems, Inc.) – Cormorant Lakes Area Project – GRANT $430,780
Find more articles on broadband in Becker County. (http://tinyurl.com/jkah37b)
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.
