Rank:  57
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Douglas County: Slow improvement but need more engagement to sprint

Douglas County ranks 57 (up one place) for broadband access out of 87 counties. Douglas has seen incremental gains up to 77.58 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 4211 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $39 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Douglas County has historically done well with border to border grants because they have a few providers that are engaged. Last year Gardonville Coop got $1.2 million in Border to Border funding  to serve 300 unserved households around Alexandria. Also Tekstar received $12.6 million in REConnect funds to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 3,113 people, 171 farms, 103 businesses and a school to high-speed internet in Douglas, Otter Tail, St. Louis, Stearns and Todd counties. In 2023, Gardonville received two more Border to Border grants: $665,950 to serve 122 households and $857,013 to serve 214 both near Alexandria.

The continue to make incremental progress but retain their yellow rank with one 77 percent coverage.

Grants:

• Gardonville Cooperative Telephone – Buckskin – GRANT $857,013
• 2023 Gardonville Cooperative Telephone – Carlos – GRANT $665,950
• 2022: Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association, $1,212,337.50
• 2022: ReConnect Tekstar Communications $12,602,274

• 2017 – Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County: Country Estates FTTH Project – GRANT $101,624
• 2017 – Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County: Pospisil Drive FTTH Project – GRANT $54,155
• 2016 – GARDONVILLE COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE DOUGLAS COUNTY LAKE LOUISE – GRANT: $68,240
• 2016 – RUNESTONE TELEPHONE HOLMES CITY 2 — GRANT: $700,674
• 2015 – Runestone Telephone Association – Holmes City – Grant award: $189,990
• 2019: Charter Communications – Lake Carlos Project – GRANT $74,540
• 2019: Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Krohnfeldt Drive FTTH Project – GRANT $42,921
• 2019: Runestone Telecom Association – South Alexandria Project – GRANT $1,760,423
• Arvig (Tekstar Communications, Inc.) – Lake Osakis, Sauk Lake & Smith Lake Project – GRANT $486,458 This middle and last mile project will upgrade approximately 230 unserved and 39 underserved locations in Todd and Douglas counties.
• Charter Communications (Spectrum) – West Lake Carlos – GRANT $24,450
  This middle and last mile project will serve approximately 42 unserved households on the west side of Lake Carlos in Douglas County.
• Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County – County Road 34 FTTH Project – GRANT $1,551,370 This last mile project will serve 71 unserved and 544 underserved locations in Ida and Carlos townships in Douglas County.
• Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County – Hazel Hill Road FTTH Project – GRANT $692,929 This middle and last mile project will serve 212 unserved households, 79 unserved businesses and one unserved farm in Alexandria Township in Douglas County.
• Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County – Town Hall Road FTTH Project – GRANT $90,251 This last mile project will serve 46 unserved and 3 underserved locations in La Grand Township in Douglas County

Find more articles on broadband in Douglas County. (http://tinyurl.com/jqpohsc)

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.