The Mankato Free Press posts the following editorial…

When President Joe Biden and Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act with billions for investing in broadband across the country, rural residents, schools and businesses could feel confident that finally high speed internet would soon be available to all.

It’s not working out that way, and we would like to see leaders in the Minnesota congressional delegation and Gov. Tim Walz involved in straightening out what seems to be a growing bureaucratic mess. A recent report in MinnPost showed broadband industry leaders saying the requirements for applying for the money are onerous and impractical for many broadband providers.

I posted about the MinnPost article earlier. The editorial concludes…

Minnesota’s own border-to-border broadband initiative has been funding projects for several years, though at a much smaller scale, allocating $20 million to $30 million a year. Wolf said if the state had been able to funnel the federal money through the already existing state program, expansion projects could have already been completed.

Minnesota’s broadband office has been pushing federal deadlines and the state has already asked for one extension.

The industry groups have been raising these issues for several months, but the state response seems to be to wait for the process to play out.

We believe the state should provide more resources to help the industry navigate these federal government hurdles — or create more incentives for them to invest.

This article has been picked up by several other posts, including Gov Technology.