Rank:  57
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Douglas County: Slow improvement but engaged providers

Douglas County ranks 53 (up four places) for broadband access out of 87 counties. Douglas has seen incremental gains up to for several years. Douglas County has historically done well with border to border grants because they have a few providers that are engaged. They continue to make incremental progress but retain their yellow rank until they get closer to goal.

• Over the years, Douglas County (or cities within) has invested $72,400 (total) for matches for 1 successful MN Broadband grant. This is an indicator of local government that is engaged and (literally) invested in better, local broadband.
• Douglas County will benefit from a 2024 $223,521 MN Broadband grant award that will serve 52 locations.
• Douglas County will benefit from 9 line extension awards (Rounds 1 and 2), which extend broadband to individual locations.
• Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $39 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, Douglas ranked 15 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

2024 Grants:

• County: Douglas
  Gardonville Cooperative Telephone
  Gardonville – Douglas Cty
  Grant: $223,521
  Local Match: $223,522
  Total Budget: $447,043
  Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association, a non-profit cooperative since 1943 and based in Brandon, MN, will build fiber to 5 non-contiguous areas across Douglas County to include parts of La Grand Township, Hudson Township, and Alexandria Township. This project will improve broadband speeds up to 1 Gbps and will serve 52 locations, primarily households and home based businesses. With 30% of Alexandria Public School District’s students lacking broadband at home, the project will help more students access the wide array of online learning opportunities, thereby providing more tools for the schools to bridge the achievement gaps they struggle to eliminate.

Past Grants:

• Gardonville Cooperative Telephone – Buckskin – GRANT $857,013
• 2023 Gardonville Cooperative Telephone – Carlos – GRANT $665,950
• 2022: Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association, $1,212,337.50
• 2022: ReConnect Tekstar Communications $12,602,274

• 2017 – Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County: Country Estates FTTH Project – GRANT $101,624
• 2017 – Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County: Pospisil Drive FTTH Project – GRANT $54,155
• 2016 – GARDONVILLE COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE DOUGLAS COUNTY LAKE LOUISE – GRANT: $68,240
• 2016 – RUNESTONE TELEPHONE HOLMES CITY 2 — GRANT: $700,674
• 2015 – Runestone Telephone Association – Holmes City – Grant award: $189,990
• 2019: Charter Communications – Lake Carlos Project – GRANT $74,540
• 2019: Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Krohnfeldt Drive FTTH Project – GRANT $42,921
• 2019: Runestone Telecom Association – South Alexandria Project – GRANT $1,760,423
• Arvig (Tekstar Communications, Inc.) – Lake Osakis, Sauk Lake & Smith Lake Project – GRANT $486,458 This middle and last mile project will upgrade approximately 230 unserved and 39 underserved locations in Todd and Douglas counties.
• Charter Communications (Spectrum) – West Lake Carlos – GRANT $24,450
  This middle and last mile project will serve approximately 42 unserved households on the west side of Lake Carlos in Douglas County.
• Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County – County Road 34 FTTH Project – GRANT $1,551,370 This last mile project will serve 71 unserved and 544 underserved locations in Ida and Carlos townships in Douglas County.
• Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County – Hazel Hill Road FTTH Project – GRANT $692,929 This middle and last mile project will serve 212 unserved households, 79 unserved businesses and one unserved farm in Alexandria Township in Douglas County.
• Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association – Douglas County – Town Hall Road FTTH Project – GRANT $90,251 This last mile project will serve 46 unserved and 3 underserved locations in La Grand Township in Douglas County

Find more articles on broadband in Douglas County. (http://tinyurl.com/jqpohsc)

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)