Rank: 77
Code: Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Sibley County: still stuck at 65 percent coverage
Sibley County ranks 77 (down 3 points) for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 63.51 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 2204 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $20.4 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 |
| Sibley | 10.1 | 6,040 | 63.51 | 2204 | 20497200 |
Sibley County has been working on better broadband for more than 10 years. They were a Blandin Broadband Community. But their connectivity has been stagnant since 2018. There hasn’t been a demonstration of recent engagement with broadband, which is why their code has gone from yellow to red.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 63.51 | 65.63 | 65.29 | 62.86 | 62.87 | 62.84 | 51.01 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 66.82 | 69.76 | 70.05 | 74.29 | 73.59 | 63.47 | 71.27 |
Grants
- 2017 – Winthrop Telephone Company, Inc. – Cornish Township FTTP Project – GRANT $365,895
- 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile – Grant award: $808,080
- 2014 – R-S Fiber Cooperative, FTTH Project – Award: $1 million.
- MN State Grant awarded in 2021: Winthrop Telephone Company, Inc. – Bismarck & Transit Township FTTP Project – GRANT $716,000 This last mile project will serve 148 unserved and six underserved locations, including homes, businesses and farms, in Bismarck, Transit and Round Grove townships in Sibley and McLeod counties
Find more articles on broadband in Sibley County (https://blandinonbroadband.org/?s=sibley&submit=Search)
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.
