Rank: 53
Code:  Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Houston	85.95	64	85.51	53	64.96	36	12

Houston County: incremental change

Houston County broadband coverage has dipped since last year. It’s within an acceptable margin but it also reflects three years of stagnation.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 1,594 locations in Houston County. The majority of locations will get fiber but some will get a satellite or fixed wireless connection, which does not qualify as served in the MN statute. That sets up a divide of different qualities.

There is still Line Extension funding yet to be distributed, which helps connect handfuls of  houses just beyond existing infrastructure. (Houston has  not benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So this might be a strategy to consider.)

Statewide, there have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty.

With slow progress, Houston County retains their Yellow ranking.

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	85.51	86	85.89	82.98	75.26	69.66	67.81	66.63	65.08
25/3 (2022 goal)	85.95	88.43	88.11	92.87	92.86	77.1	72.94	71.29	72.23

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 Houston: 1,549
The locations include a majority of fiber with some satellite and fixed wireless connections.

County	Ace Telephone Association	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	IBT Group USA, LLC	Mediacom LLC	MiEnergy	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fixed Wireless	Fiber	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite
Houston	691	251	211	1	390	5	1,549	Houston

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 Houston, $75,000 was invested on two projects over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Brownsville City Council supports Acentek application (Houston County) Highlights from Past Reports

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $10.5 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, Houston ranked 19 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants:

• 2022: The investment, provided through the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s ReConnect program, will help connect over 6,000 people, 150 businesses, and 680 farms across Freeborn, Morrison, Stearns, Houston, and Todd counties.

• 2019: AcenTek – Rural Houston Exchange FTTH – GRANT $2,895,318

Find more articles on broadband in Houston County. (http://tinyurl.com/zst4kf5)

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)