Rank: 30
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Crow Wing County: Need a push to get ubiquitous broadband

Crow Wing County ranks 30 (up 7) for broadband access out of 87 counties. They saw a nice increase in coverage in 2024, after a few years of being stalled. Moving forward, they will benefit from a ReConnect broadband award through Consolidated Telephone Company  announced December, 2024. The investment will be used to deploy high-speed fiber optics to 67 businesses and 78 farms in Crow Wing and Morrison, and 2,831 people will benefit. They received $5,510,933 as a grant, and $5,510,933 as a loan.

• Over the years, Crow Wing County (or cities within) has not invested in match for any successful MN Broadband grants.
• Crow Wing County will not benefit from a 2024 MN Broadband grant.
• Crow Wing County will benefit from 276 line extension awards (Rounds 1 and 2), which extend broadband to individual locations. They have significantly more awards than any other county.
• Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $51 million 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, Crow Wing ranked 30 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.
• In December 2022, Tri-Co Technologies got $343,552 to serve approximately 245 unserved households in Crow Wing County.
• In 2023, CTC began a $5.7 million project to expand its broadband fiber optic network to approximately 500 unserved or underserved locations.
• In June 2023, the Commissioners of Crow Wing County submitted a Request for Proposal from broadband providers interested in serving the area.

Past Grants:

• 2022: Tri-Co Technologies, LLC dba Crosslake Communications, $343,552.00

• 2016 – TDS TELECOM CASS & CROW WING COUNTIES — GRANT: $3,000,000
  2015 – Consolidated Telecommunications Company – Fort Ripley Phase II
  Grant award: $759,525
• 2014 – Consolidated Telephone Cooperative, Region 5 Virtual Highway Project – Amount $2 million
• 2020: CTC (Consolidated Telephone Company) – Fort Ripley/Executive Acres Project – GRANT $830,587
• Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) – Stark-Ross Lake Area – GRANT $350,805 This last mile project will serve approximately 180 unserved locations in a portion of Ross Lake Township in Crow Wing County.
• Crosslake Communications – O’Brien/Goodrich Lake Fiber Project – GRANT $618,970 This last mile O’Brien/Goodrich Lake Fiber Project will serve approximately 232 unserved households in Crow Wing County.

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Crow Wing County. (http://tinyurl.com/zechgaw)

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)