Rank: 49
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Wilkin County: going the wrong way – need to focus
Wilkin County ranks 49 for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 81.97 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 464 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $4.3 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 |
| Wilkin | 3.4 | 2,574 | 81.97 | 464 | 4315200 |
They have hovered around 77 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up since 2020 but recent grants may change that.
In December 2022, Red River Rural Telephone received $2.1 million to upgrade approximately 315 underserved locations near the Breckenridge, Doran and Foxhome area of Wilkin County. In 2023, Red River got two more grants: one for $2.2 million to serve 128 locations in North Wilkin County, located near Breckenridge and Foxhome and $2 million to upgrade approximately 86 unserved locations near the rural Doran and Campbell areas of Wilkin County.
The recent grants help Wilkin County shift from red to yellow ranking.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 81.97 | 77.48 | 77.06 | 77.06 | 80.84 | 82.08 | 80.84 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 87.33 | 83.56 | 83.01 | 83.1 | 88.01 | 86.53 | 80.84 |
Grant:
- 2023: Red River Rural Telephone Association – Rural Campbell – GRANT $2,035,500
- 2023 Red River Rural Telephone Association – North Wilkin County – GRANT $2,227,363
- 2022 Red River Rural Telephone Association, $2,157,663
- 2017 – Advantenon – Rural Grant, Stevens and Wilkin Counties – Grant $316,554
Find more articles on broadband in Wilkin County (http://tinyurl.com/zh64v29)
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.
