Rank: 14
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
| County | 25/3 (% covered) |
25/3 rank | 100/20 (% covered) |
100/20 rank | Gig (% covered) |
Gig rank |
| Clearwater | 99.25 | 11 | 98.33 | 14 | 98.19 | 5 |
Clearwater County: nearly there and getting closer
Clearwater County ranks 14 (down from 13) for broadband access out of 87 counties. The can just about touch ubiquitous coverage and have new grant funding coming in. They rank fifth in Gig access. They retain their green ranking because they are so close to the goal.
- Over the years, Clearwater County (or cities within) has not invested in matches for any successful MN Broadband grants.
- Clearwater County will benefit from a 2024 $4,6 million MN Broadband grant award that will serve 487 locations between Clearwater and Mahnomen Counties.
- Clearwater County will not benefit from any line extension awards.
- Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $558,000 to get ubiquitous broadband in the county. (I haven’t updated the number because recent report offers scenarios of costs based on BEAD funding rules that make current estimates less predictable than in the past. Yet, I think the number is still helpful.)
- In 2022, Clearwater ranked 75 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 98.33 | 98.28 | 98.85 | 99.59 | 89.32 | 89.3 | 89.3 | 73.41 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 99.25 | 99.26 | 99.29 | 99.76 | 99.74 | 99.74 | 99.58 | 99.58 |
2024 Grants:
- County: Clearwater, Mahnomen
Garden Valley Telephone Company 2024 Rural Mahnomen County
Grant: $4,626,012
Local Match: $1,542,008
Total Budget: $6,168,020
This Low Density Garden Valley Telephone Company in Mahnomen County project is a combination middle mile and last mile Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) which will serve locations within the borders of the White Earth Reservation in Mahnomen County. This project recognizes broadband has become essential to economic prosperity in the rural communities and would allow employees to work from home, provide children with access to homework and essential internet related research and improve access to telemedicine at 287 locations, of which 181 are unserved and 106 underserved. Partner funding total of $250, from local community members.
Past Grants/Funding:
- In 2018, Garden Valley Telephone Company received a $20 million loan from the USDA to deploy fiber in Polk, Clearwater, Pennington, Marshall and Red Lake counties.
- AT&T launched a new FirstNet cell site in Clearwater County.
Find more articles on broadband in Clearwater County. (http://tinyurl.com/homdjrt)
The maps below on the left comes from the Office of Broadband Development interactive map, reflecting data updated on December 16, 2024. Red dots represent locations unserved locations. Above I have tracked wireline access because that is the Minnesota definition of broadband. The info below includes wired and wireless. BEAD includes fixed wireless connections as served locations. (I wrote more on the distinction between the two last year, which may be if interest in the numbers range greatly for your county.)
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)