Rank: 17
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Roseau County: Incremental but consistent improvements
Roseau County ranks 17 for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 96.5 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 229 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $2.1 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 |
| Roseau | 3.9 | 6,548 | 96.5 | 229 | 2129700 |
Roseau County saw an amazing leap in broadband in 2018 – from 0 to 67 percent. They have seen incremental growth since then, including in the last year. Their continued incremental improvement has pushed them from yellow to green ranking.
Broadband Access:
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 96.5 | 90.71 | 85.23 | 79.41 | 72.59 | 67.3 | 0 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 96.56 | 90.92 | 87.44 | 81.92 | 75.88 | 67.3 | 62.16 |
Grants:
- 2017 – Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband – GRANT $1,307,785
- 2016 – SJOBERG’S INC. ROSEAU AND LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTIES — GRANT: $354,740
- 2016 – CENTURYLINK THIEF RIVER MIDDLE MILE – GRANT: $1,324,400
- 2016 – WIKSTROM TELEPHONE COMPANY WIKTEL NW MN – GRANT: $950,823
- 2014 – Sjoberg Cable, Broadband Grant Proposal – Award $261,575
- 2014 – Wikstrom Telephone, Kittson, Marshall, Roseau Broadband Extension Amount $425,000
- 2019: Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband Project – GRANT $1,151,526
Find more articles on broadband in Roseau County (http://tinyurl.com/gsq45ua)
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.
