Rank: 8
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Hennepin County: population density helps attract broadband

Hennepin County ranks 8 (up one) for broadband access out of 87 counties. Hennepin County is in the top 10 ranking and nearly at 100 percent coverage and therefore they have earned an easy green ranking.

Hennepin County benefits from being an urban/suburban county. It is easy to make a business case for serving broadband in most of Hennepin County, in fact Gateway Fiber deployed fiber in Plymouth MN  in July 2024; while Comcast expanded better broadband to Corcoran and Rogers in February 2-24.

• Over the years, Hennepin County (or cities within) has invested $296,846 (total) for matches for 2 successful MN Broadband grants. This is an indicator of local government that is engaged and (literally) invested in better, local broadband.
• Hennepin County will not benefit from a 2024 MN Broadband grant.
• Hennepin County will benefit from 23 line extension awards (Rounds 1 and 2), which extend broadband to individual locations.
• Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $27.7 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, Hennepin ranked 7 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.
• In December 2022, Comcast Cable got a Border to Border grant for almost $2 million. In 2023, Midco received $1.5 in funding to serve 423 households, businesses, farms and community anchor institutions in rural Independence and Greenfield.

Past Grants:

• 2022: Comcast Cable Communications LLC, $1,941,841.00

• 2017 – Mediacom Minnesota LLC – Medina 2018 Broadband Build – GRANT $62,219
• 2021: Mediacom Minnesota LLC – Minnestrista Project – GRANT $189,752 This last mile project will serve 80 unserved households in Minnestrista in Hennepin County.

Checklist:

Find more articles on broadband in Hennepin County. (http://tinyurl.com/z9n7ea6)

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)