Rank: 68
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Blue Earth	85.9	65	80.52	68	61.94	42	17

Blue Earth County: Middle of the pack and dropping

Blue Earth County seems to be stuck or slipping in the last couple years but providers keep investing in the area. There was a 2024 MN State grant awarded last year and the impact of that should emerge soon. Mediacom also invested in the last year.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 782 locations in Blue Earth County. The majority of locations will get a fiber, which is going to help the county.

Statewide factors: There is still Line Extension funding yet to be distributed, which helps connect handfuls of  houses just beyond existing infrastructure. There have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty.

While Blue Earth seems a little stuck, local providers continue to engage and assuming that the BEAD funding is disbursed in the next year, they should find themselves getting closer to goal.

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	80.52	79.55	76.46	81.88	80.76	77.81	77.91	14.13	55.6
25/3 (2022 goal)	85.9	88.84	89.37	92.5	84.78	85.36	78.33	77.95	88.35

Possible BEAD support

The Minnesota BEAD Final Proposal has not yet been approved so the information below is subject to change; it includes the number of locations by county specifying provider and broadband type. (Learn more.)

Locations in Blue Earth: 782
The locations include a majority of fiber connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	AMG Technology Investment Group, LLC d/b/a Nextlink Internet	IBT Group USA, LLC	Midco	Nuvera	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fixed Wireless	Fixed Wireless	Fiber	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite
Blue Earth	10	71	17	622	58	4	782	Blue Earth

Local Government Match for State Broadband Grants:

Over the years, many local governments (County, Municipal, Tribal) have invested in broadband deployment. This year, I have tracked how much local investment has been used to match MN State Grants. Local governments invest in other ways too, but this was one number I could realistically find and quantify investment by county, which means investment in that county, whether by county, cities or other local government entity.

Blue Earth has not invested over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Blue Earth County providers received $39,249 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards
• Street Insider features broadband provider Bevcomm in Blue Earth MN
• Mediacom Communications today announces multi-gig broadband in Blue Earth, Brown, McLeod, Meeker, Nicollet, Redwood, Renville, Rice, Scott, Waseca, Watonwan Counties and Lower Sioux Reservation

Highlights from Past Reports

• Over the years, Blue Earth County (or cities within) has invested $39,249 (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.
• Blue Earth County will benefit from a 2024 435,838 MN Broadband grant (Round 10) award that will serve 101 locations between Blue Earth and Faribault Counties.
• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $49.1 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, Blue Earth ranked 18 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants:

• 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
• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile Grant award: $808,080

Find more articles on broadband in Blue Earth County. (http://tinyurl.com/j5pe9kr)

The maps below come from the

• Office of Broadband Development interactive map, reflecting data updated on December 16, 2025 – tracking wireline access.
• The FCC National Broadband Maps, reflecting data updated November 28, 2025 – tracking fixed wireless access.

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)