Rank: 75
Code: Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Mille Lacs County: new provider in the area might help

Mille Lacs County ranks 75 (down two point) for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 68.72 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up in 2022. They have 3659 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $34 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Mille Lacs County was part of the Blandin Broadband Communities (BBC) initiative from 2012-2014. In November (2022), the Mille Lacs County Board of Commissioners met to hear about broadband options. The outgoing Economic Development Manager Mike Wimmer spoke optimistically of East Central Energy new entry to the broadband provider business.

In December 2022, SCI received $476,108 in Border to Border funding to serve 146 unserved households and 3 Businesses within areas of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Reservation and Northern Mille Lacs County, with Fiber to the Home and Benton got $1.1 million to serve 32 unserved households, 407 unserved business and farms, and 1 unserved township hall in Borgholm Township located in Mille Lacs County.

East Central Energy has applied for funding to serve Mille Lacs County in the latest (and open) round of Border to Border funding.

Mille Lacs is engaging with multiple broadband providers and that will stand them in good stand when federal (BEAD) funding becomes available. But for now they retain their red ranking.

Grants:

• 2022: Savage Communications Inc. (SCI) – Northern Mille Lacs County 2022: Broadband Expansion – GRANT $476,108
• Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Borgholm Township Project – GRANT $1,118,289 (Learn more)

• 2016 – BENTON COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE COMPANY BOCK – GRANT: $510,000
• 2019: Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Ramey Phase I – GRANT $936,759

• MN State Grants awarded in 2021: Savage Communications Inc. (SCI) – Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (Onamia) Broadband Expansion – GRANT $70,261 This last mile fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) project will serve 102 unserved households within the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Reservation in Mille Lacs County.

• Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Ramey Phase 2 Project – GRANT $338,011 This last mile project will serve 119 unserved locations in the Ramey telephone exchange located in portions of Lakin and Mount Morris townships in Morrison County and a small portion of Dailey and Page townships located in Mille Lacs County.

Find more articles on broadband in Mille Lacs County (http://tinyurl.com/h7wcdjj)

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.