Rank: 39
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Winona County: pretty good access and needs a push for ubiquitous

Winona County ranks 39 (down 9 points) for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 85.33 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 2525 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $23 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Winona County has been focused on broadband for years; they were part of the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) starting in 2010, a Blandin-led and federal (ARRA) funded broadband adoption project.

In 2022, HBC announced 10 Gig residential service in the City of Winona. Two months later they announced expansion in rural parts of the county.

In December 2022, Ace Telephone received $3.2 million to serve 486 underserved households, 34 underserved businesses, and 88 underserved farms in Winona County.  Broadband-leaning conversations were happening in Winona in 2023, the was an active Digital Connection Committee that shared their views with the Digital Equity Report that the Office of Broadband Development (OBD) submitted to the NTIA as part of the federal funding (BEAD) application and OBD hosted a discussion about the Equity Plan in draft form.

Winona County residents were awarded 35 line extension funding requests, which means state funding will subsidize last mile broadband extension to their homes.

Winona has been hovering around 85 percent coverage for a long time but recent conversations and grants in the area should help prepare Winona to take advantage of federal (BEAD) funding so they retain their yellow ranking.

Grants:

• 2022: Ace Telephone Association, Inc., $3,218,201.00

• 2016 – WINONA COUNTY PICKWICK AREA – GRANT: $416,640
• 2015 – Hiawatha Broadband Communications – Winona County Whitewater Area – Grant Award: $247,000
• 2015 – Winona County Hiawatha Broadband Communications – Cedar Valley Area – Grant award: $314,450
• 2019: AcenTek – Rural Houston Exchange FTTH – GRANT $2,895,318

• MN State Grant awarded in 2021: AcenTek – Rural Peterson Exchange FTTH – GRANT $1,492,096 This last mile project will serve 214 unserved households, 18 unserved businesses, 88 unserved farms, and two unserved community anchor institutions as well as 47 underserved households and five underserved businesses in areas of Fillmore and Winona counties.

Find more articles on broadband in Winona County (http://tinyurl.com/hqsckxg)

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.