Rank: 32
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Crow Wing	96.24	33	94.83	32	72.21	28	15

 Crow Wing County: Could be helped by BEAD funding

Crow Wing County has remained stagnant in 2025 but they are in line to get a lot of fiber connections when the BEAD funds are disbursed. Unfortunately, the locations that aren’t getting fiber and going to get satellite, which does not qualify to help them reach the MN State speed goals. That may cause a divide between based on access their locations.

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	94.83	93.32	85.84	87.51	86.38	86.6	88.04	41.66	33.13
25/3 (2022 goal)	96.24	94.97	90.27	89.54	90.01	90.61	92.84	92.29	87.78

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 Crow Wing: 1,174
The locations include a majority of fiber and some satellite connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	CTC	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite
Crow Wing	228	934	12	1,174	Crow Wing

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.

Crow Wing has not invested over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• New partnership, Tri-Co, focused on deploying broadband to Cass and Crown Wing Counties

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $51 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, Crow Wing ranked 30 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants:

• 2022: Tri-Co Technologies, LLC dba Crosslake Communications, $343,552.00

• 2016 – TDS TELECOM CASS & CROW WING COUNTIES — GRANT: $3,000,000
  2015 – Consolidated Telecommunications Company – Fort Ripley Phase II
  Grant award: $759,525
• 2014 – Consolidated Telephone Cooperative, Region 5 Virtual Highway Project – Amount $2 million
• 2020: CTC (Consolidated Telephone Company) – Fort Ripley/Executive Acres Project – GRANT $830,587
• Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) – Stark-Ross Lake Area – GRANT $350,805 This last mile project will serve approximately 180 unserved locations in a portion of Ross Lake Township in Crow Wing County.
• Crosslake Communications – O’Brien/Goodrich Lake Fiber Project – GRANT $618,970 This last mile O’Brien/Goodrich Lake Fiber Project will serve approximately 232 unserved households in Crow Wing County.

Find more articles on broadband in Crow Wing County. (http://tinyurl.com/zechgaw)

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)