Rank: 33
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Sherburne County: Great improvement

Sherburne County ranks 33 for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 87.19 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 7156 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $66.5 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Sherburne County has worked with the Blandin Foundation. They seemed to renew an interest in broadband post-pandemic. They went from almost 90 percent coverage to 82 percent last year. There is a slight dip likely reflects a more granular look at access and they have almost gained what they lost this year.

In December 2022, Tekstar Communications received more than $1 million to reach 27 unserved and 15 underserved households, farms and businesses near Elk River by Elk Lake Road, by the new fire station and on the west side of Twin Lakes by Nowthen AND to reach 182 unserved and 30 underserved households, farms and businesses in Haven and Clear Lake Townships in rural Sherburne County. In 2023, Arvig received  $182,576 to build to 240 unserved households near the Travelers Country Club on the Mississippi River, southeast of Clearwater. Midco has an application in to the latest (still open) round of Border to Border funding; results should be available in early 2024.

I was going to bump Sherburne’s ranking from green to yellow in part because they have not beaten the 90 percent coverage benchmark and then I saw that they met in November to make a plan for broadband. Communities that are talking about broadband and meeting with potential providers, such as Sherburne, will be in good shape when federal (BEAD) funding becomes available.

Grants

• 2023: Arvig (Tekstar) – Sherburne County Area Fiber Extension – GRANT $182,576
• 2022: Tekstar Communications, Inc. dba Arvig, $1,075,943.50 (Learn more)

• 2017 – Palmer Wireless – Sherburne County Road 3 – GRANT $110,661
• 2016 – PALMER WIRELESS BIG LAKE INDUSTRIAL PARK – GRANT: $ 90,988
• 2016 – PALMER WIRELESS DEL TONE ROAD AND ST. CLOUD AIRPORT – GRANT: $ 179,400
• 2014 – Palmer Wireless, Becker Industrial Park – Award: $151,934.

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Sibley County(http://tinyurl.com/ztm6c9n)

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.