Rank: 69
Code:  Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Martin County: hoping new engagement spurs investment

Martin County ranks 69 for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 72.6 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 2398 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $22.3 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Martin County hovered around 67 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up since 2020 but they had a big of jump this year. In December 2022, Bevcomm was awarded a $1.4 million Border to Border grant to serve 371 underserved and 2 unserved homes, businesses, and farms in the rural areas of Bricelyn, Elmore and Guckeen within Faribault and Martin Counties. Federated Rural Electric Association has applied for a grant in the latest Border to Border grant round but they won’t hear the results until early 2024. Martin County supported both grant applications with financing from ARPA funds.

The engagement with broadband providers, financial buy-in and latest increase in broadband coverage has bumped Martin from red to yellow ranking.

They may be concerned about being in a potentially precarious position because looking at access in the County using the FCC National Map there is a big discrepancy between wireline access (69.95 percent coverage) and wireline with fixed wireless (96.72 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.

Martin County

• 2022: Grants: Bevcomm – Rural Faribault and Martin Counties Fiber Expansion Project – Phase Three – GRANT $1,444,030 (serving Faribault and Martin Counties)
• MN State Grant awarded in 2021: BEVCOMM (Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company, Easton Telephone Company & Cannon Valley Telecom) – Rural Faribault County and Martin County Fiber Expansion Phase 2 Project – GRANT $1,182,818 This last mile project will serve approximately two unserved households, 203 underserved households, 46 underserved businesses, and 181 underserved farms in portions of Faribault and Martin counties.

• 2017- BEVCOMM (Granada Telephone Company) — Granada Rural Final – GRANT: $202,410
• 2016 – GRANADA TELEPHONE COMPANY (DBA BEVCOMM) SOUTH RURAL GRANADA – GRANT:  $157,920
• 2016 – MARTIN COUNTY (WITH FRONTIER) RURAL BROADBAND INITIATIVE – GRANT: $1,677,823
• BEVCOMM (Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company & Easton Telephone Company) – Rural Faribault County Project – GRANT: $579,781

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Martin County (http://tinyurl.com/h37zf6l)

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.