Rank: 84
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Isanti County: may be gaining momentum
Isanti County ranks 84 (down two) for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 54.09 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up since 2017. They have 7169 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $66.6 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 |
| Isanti | 34.6 | 15,616 | 54.09 | 7169 | 66671700 |
Isanti County have been hovering at about 50 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up since 2017. They saw some increase in the last year.
Isanti County is served by one large national provider. That may be a bottleneck to better access in those areas, because a lack of competition can impact the drive for improvement.
In December 2022, Midcontinent received $1.6 million in a Border to Border grant to serve 545 unserved and underserved households and 17 unserved and underserved businesses, farms and community anchor institutions in portions of Isanti County and East Central Energy received $5 million to serve approximately 1,988 unserved and underserved households and 142 unserved and underserved businesses, 353 Unserved and underserved farms, and 3 unserved and underserved community anchor institutions in the Isanti and Kanabec Counties.
In 2023, East Central received another Border to Border grant of almost $5 million to serve 1,990 locations in Isanti County.
With two grants going to East Central Energy and more coming through Midcontinent, a momentum seems to be building for Isanti County, which wins them an upgrade to yellow ranking.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 54.09 | 50.09 | 50.21 | 48.63 | 48.05 | 56.62 | 49.29 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 65.98 | 60.25 | 78.5 | 76.77 | 73.5 | 73.67 | 53.52 |
Past grants:
- 2023: East Central Energy – Isanti South – GRANT $4,900,000
- 2022: Midcontinent Communications, $1,647,321.00
- 2022: East Central Energy – Isanti North – GRANT $5,000,000
Find more articles on broadband in Isanti County. (http://tinyurl.com/gozt2ka)
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.
