Rank: 72
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Faribault County: Found traction to move forward

Faribault County rank bumped up from 72 to 31 for broadband access out of 87 counties. They are making local investments and working with local providers and it has made a difference in the last year. They have earned their green ranking.

• Over the years, Faribault County (or cities within) has invested $55,000 (total) for matches for 6 successful MN Broadband grants. This is an indicator of local government that is engaged and (literally) invested in better, local broadband.
• Faribault County will benefit from two 2024 MN Broadband grant award:
  $1,779,163 to serve 543 locations and
  $435,838 to serve 101 locations.
• Faribault County will not benefit from line extension awards.
• Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $17.4 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, Faribault ranked 57 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

2024 Grants:

• County: Faribault, Freeborn
  Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company Faribault County Fiber Expansion Project – Final Phase
  Grant: $1,779,163
  Local Match: $5,337,488
  Total Budget: $7,116,651
  The Faribault County Fiber Expansion Project – Final Phase project will build an underground fiber network to serve the remaining unserved and underserved locations in Faribault county’s rural Wells and Blue Earth, offering speeds of up to a Gigabit symmetrically with unlimited data. This final phase, last mile project will impact a total of 543 addresses, of which 423 are unserved and 120 are underserved, and includes 205 homes, 59 businesses, and 279 farms. Faribault County EDA has pledged $5,000 toward this project.
• County: Blue Earth, Faribault
  Bevcomm (Easton) Telephone
  Bevcomm (Easton) Rural MN Lake
  Grant: $435,838
  Local Match: $1,016,956
  Total Budget: $1,452,794
  Bevcomm will build an underground fiber broadband network to 101 locations (86 unserved and 15 underserved), offering speeds up to a Gigabit symmetrically with unlimited data, to portions of rural Faribault and Blue Earth Counties. This project will impact 55 farms, 32 households, and 14 businesses. Faribault County EDA has pledged $5,000 and Minnesota Lake Township has pledged $1,000 toward project costs. Bevcomm has to date received 25 state grants, all of which have been successfully deployed and completed on time.

Past Grants:

• In December 2022, Blue Earth Valley Telephone received a Border to Border grant for $1.4 million to serve 371 underserved and 2 unserved homes, businesses, and farms in the rural areas of Bricelyn, Elmore and Guckeen within Faribault and Martin Counties.
• 2022: Blue Earth Valley Telephone Co., dba Bevcomm and Cannon Valley Telecom, Inc.,dba Bevcomm, $1,444,030.00

• 2017 – BEVCOMM (Easton Telephone Company) – Delavan SE Rural Project – GRANT $220,350
• 2016 – BLUE EARTH VALLEY TELEPHONE CO. (DBA BEVCOMM) RURAL WINNEBAGO – GRANT:  $152,828
• 2015 – BEVCOMM Blue Earth Valley Telephone – Rural Winnebago Fiber-to-the-Premises Project – Grant award: $142,690
• BEVCOMM (Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company & Easton Telephone Company) – Rural Faribault County Project – GRANT: $579,781
• BEVCOMM received CARES Act funding from the County for broadband expansion.
• BEVCOMM (Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company, Easton Telephone Company & Cannon Valley Telecom) – Rural Faribault County and Martin County Fiber Expansion Phase 2 Project – GRANT $1,182,818 This last mile project will serve approximately two unserved households, 203 underserved households, 46 underserved businesses, and 181 underserved farms in portions of Faribault and Martin counties.
• Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association – SE Faribault/W Freeborn County FTTP – GRANT $953,842 This last-mile fiber optic project will bring service to 319 unserved locations, including 289 homes, 16 businesses, 11 farms, and three community anchor institutions in the townships of Clark, Foster, Kiester, Seely, Alden, Carlston, Manchester, Mansfield, and Pickerel Lake located in Southeastern Faribault and Western Freeborn counties.

Find more articles on broadband in Faribault County. (http://tinyurl.com/jzwv3gx)

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)