Broadband Breakfast reports on the MN Public Broadband Alliance meeting in Le Sueur County last week…

After years of broken promises from Washington, Gigi Sohn urged Minnesota leaders last week to take the state’s broadband future into their own hands.

“While Washington has failed you, Minnesota has the power – and the track record – to build its own broadband future,” she said. Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband and a former Biden FCC nominee, delivered her remarks Sept. 10 in New Prague at What’s Next for Broadband in Minnesota, a forum hosted by the Minnesota Public Broadband Alliance.

Sohn pointed to the federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, launched in 2020, where providers defaulted on 80 percent of more than $400 million in Minnesota awards. “These numbers are nothing less than tragic,” she said.