Rank: 82
Code: Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Carlton County: hard overcoming a national incumbent provider
Carlton County ranks 82 for broadband access of 73 counties; up one place from last year. They have 6407 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $59.5 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 |
| Carlton | 16.1 | 14,071 | 54.47 | 6407 | 59585100 |
Carlton County saw a slight bump from 83 to 82 but they are still in the bottom 10 ranking. Two projects in Carlton County got funding at the end of 2022, totaling more than $5 million so that will help them reach the broadband goal. In 2023, SCI did get $1.3 million grant Border to Border grant to serve 503 households and businesses in the townships of Barnum, Eagle Lake, Lakeview and Moose Lake. Upsala Cooperative Telephone has applied for the latest (and undecided at time of posting) round of Border to Border funding for a project in Carlton County.
Unfortunately, Carlton County is one of several counties that is served primary with one national provider, who may not be as invested locally as a local provider or cooperative. The County has shown an interest in investing federal (ARPA) money; they need engaged providers. Increased federal funding may open doors for them.
Carlton County residents were awarded 11 line extension funding requests, which means state funding will subsidize last mile broadband extension to their homes.
Carlton County still gets a red ranking but I’m hopeful that the influx of funding will encourage more.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 54.47 | 48.71 | 52.08 | 52.02 | 47.57 | 58.22 | 52.32 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 63.33 | 59.41 | 72.79 | 75.17 | 71.71 | 67.29 | 62.74 |
Grants:
- 2023: Carlton County Broadband Expansion – GRANT $1,271,835
- 2022: Mediacom Minnesota LLC, $801,834.27 – for a project with a cost of $2,719,526
- 2022: Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) was one of the grant recipients, receiving $4,857,030 in funding (to cover St. Louis, Carlton, and Cass counties)
- 2017 – Carlton County w/ Frontier – Phase I: Cromwell/Kettle River – GRANT: $569,058
- Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa – Big Lake Road Project – GRANT $602,916
Find more articles on broadband in Carlton County. (http://tinyurl.com/z4me5k4)
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.
