Rank: 76
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Carlton	79.54	77	74.04	76	27.93	73	15

Carlton County: Continues slow progress forward

Carlton County’s rank continues to bump up, more importantly, they continue to increase the broadband coverage. For many years, Carlton County was served primary with one national provider, who may not be as invested locally as a local provider or cooperative. But a local cooperative has brough the competition.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 3,339 locations in Carlton County. The majority of locations will fiber, which will make a big difference. Also some locations will get a satellite or fixed wireless connection, which does not qualify as served in the MN statute. They will have to remember those locations are broadband continues to expand.

Statewide there have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty. But those changes might be a benefit in Carlton County.

I am boosting Carlton County’s status to Yellow, based on the expectation that the BEAD funding will be disbursed in the next year.

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	79.65	66.77	54.47	48.71	52.08	52.02	47.57	58.22	52.32
25/3 (2022 goal)	74.04	74.26	63.33	59.41	72.79	75.17	71.71	67.29	62.74

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 Carlton: 3,339
The locations include a majority of fiber connections, although there is some satellite connections too.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	CTC	East Central Energy Fiber	IBT Group USA, LLC	Mediacom LLC	Midco	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber	Fiber	Fixed Wireless	Fiber	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite
Carlton	292	52	2,654	153	117	56	15	3,339	Carlton

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.

In Carlton, $766,654 was invested over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Carlton County providers received $75,958 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards
• Pine and Carlton Counties offer support and possible funding to Mediacom BEAD application

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $59.5 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, Carlton ranked 73 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

• Pine Knot News featured Carlton’s Broadband project in June, “The transformational $10.9 million project features 180 miles of fiber optic cable, and will bring higher internet speeds and greater reliability to households across a wide area of rural Carlton County, all the way north to Munger and Solway Township. Mediacom is responsible for the project that has potential to reach 1,679 homes, 420 of those in Thomson Township, should they choose to sign up for the service.”

Past Grants:

• County: Carlton: Consolidated Telephone Company CTC Round 10 Wrenshall Community Broadband Project
  Grant: $2,127,530, Local Match: $2,127,530, Total Budget: $4,255,060
• 2023: Carlton County Broadband Expansion – GRANT $1,271,835

• 2022: Mediacom Minnesota LLC, $801,834.27 – for a project with a cost of $2,719,526
• 2022: Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) was one of the grant recipients, receiving $4,857,030 in funding (to cover St. Louis, Carlton, and Cass counties)
• 2017 – Carlton County w/ Frontier – Phase I: Cromwell/Kettle River – GRANT: $569,058
• Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa – Big Lake Road Project – GRANT $602,916

Find more articles on broadband in Carlton County. (http://tinyurl.com/z4me5k4)

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)