Rank: 80
Code:  Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Cass County: a long way to go

Cass County ranks 80, down one, for broadband access out of 87 counties. Their coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 is 56.15 percent. They have 10179 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $95 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Cass County’s rank and percentage of cover has slipped slightly this year. This is the second year that coverage for 100/20 has dipped. One concern is that they have had wide access to 25/3 for many years, which may make some people feel complacent with the access they have and then broadband dips in community priority.

In December 2022, CTC was awarded $4.9 million in a Border to Border grant to extend broadband to parts of St. Louis, Carlton, and Cass counties. So that should help. In February, Cass County voted to invest ARPA funds on a broadband grant submitted by Arvig, which didn’t get funding but still shows an interest.

Unfortunately, Cass County will retain their red ranking because they are still at the bottom of the rankings.

grants:

• 2-22: Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) was one of the grant recipients, receiving $4,857,030 in funding (to cover St. Louis, Carlton, and Cass counties)

• 2016 – TDS TELECOM CASS & CROW WING COUNTIES — GRANT: $3,000,000
• 2014 – Consolidated Telephone Cooperative, Region 5 Virtual Highway Project – Award $2 million
• 2020: CTC received CARES Act funding from both Crow Wing and Cass County.
• 2019: Paul Bunyan Communications – North Central Minnesota Fiber Project– GRANT $2,562,916
• 2019: WCTA (West Central Telephone Association) – Rural Staples Phase I Project – GRANT $555,355
• West Central Telephone Association – Rural Staples Phase 2 – GRANT $465,050 This last mile project will serve 56 unserved locations in extremely rural areas of Wadena and Cass counties.

Find more articles on broadband in Cass County. (http://tinyurl.com/hgtulgm)

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.