Rank: 50
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Le Sueur County: When Federal Funding gets in the way

Le Sueur County ranks 50 (up six points) for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 81.23 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20. They have 2276 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $21 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Le Sueur started focusing on broadband in earnest in 2018. In 2020, they became a Blandin Broadband Community. They were busy creating a local plan and have become even more active since issues with federal funding preventing them from moving forward.

LTD Broadband was awarded the opportunity to submit a long form to get federal funding (RDOF) to deploy FTTH throughout much of Minnesota, including parts of Le Sueur County. The potential RDOF award meant Le Sueur’s state grant application was no longer eligible for other funding. In 2023, the federal funders disqualifies LTD Broadband from receiving funding and the MN Public Utilities Commission is looking at revoking the ETC designation they needed to qualify for funding.  Le Sueur mourns the lost opportunity of being eligible for funding during the LTD Broadband saga.

They are also concerned about being in a potentially precarious position because looking at access in Le Sueur County using the FCC National Map there is a big discrepancy between wireline access (78.43 percent coverage) and wireline with fixed wireless (96.24 percent). Minnesota doesn’t currently take fixed wireless into consideration when defining areas eligible for grants; the federal government does include access to fixed wireless. That could make a big difference to who is eligible for BEAD funding.

In December 2022, Bevcomm was awarded almost $1 million  to serve approximately 222 unserved and underserved homes, business, farms, and one community anchor institution in Le Sueur County.

The Le Sueur community remains engaged. Le Sueur County Broadband Initiative county had a booth at the county fair; an effort that was analyzed in MinnPost.

Broadband Access:

Grants:

• 2022: Bevcomm – Rural Le Sueur County Broadband Expansion Project – Phase Two – GRANT $941,576 (Learn more)

• 2016 – ECKLES TELEPHONE COMPANY (DBA BEVCOMM) RURAL HEIDELBERG– GRANT:  $188,000
• BEVCOMM (Eckles Telephone Company) – Le Sueur County Project – GRANT $1,857,376

Find more articles on broadband in Le Sueur County (http://tinyurl.com/jbg7ghy)

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.