Rank: 49
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Kanabec	88.8	51	86.16	49	72	29	11

Kanabec County: ranking last again but making strides

Congrats to Kanabec County for going from bottom ranking to 49 by increasing broadband by 50 percentage points! It sounds as if East Central Energy has been busy at work. I have bumped them from Red to Green Status given the extreme increase and potential for more with BEAD funding.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 1,026 locations in Kanabec County. The majority of locations will get fiber but some will get a satellite, which does not qualify as served in the MN statute. That does leave a community discrepancy.

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

Statewide, there have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty. Although changes in the past, have been positive for Kanabec.

Broadband Access:

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	86.16	36.52	20.45	23.46	26.24	26.41	26.93	38.54	26.07
25/3 (2022 goal)	88.8	51.06	38.42	36.51	60.34	60.75	66.05	67.07	34.04

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 Kanabec: 1,026
The locations include a majority of fiber connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	East Central Energy Fiber	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber
Kanabec	57	969	1,026	Kanabec

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 Kanabec $147,800 was invested two projects over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Office of Broadband Development and Legislators visit East Central Energy fiber network in Pine City Highlights from Past Reports

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $54.4 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, Kanabec ranked 87 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants:

• 2022: East Central Energy – Isanti North – GRANT $5,000,000
• 2022: East Central Energy – Kanabec Central – GRANT $4,403,000
• 2022: East Central Energy – Pine South – GRANT $4,750,000
• 2016 – BENTON COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE COMPANY BOCK – GRANT: $510,000

Find more articles on broadband in Kanabec County. (http://tinyurl.com/gvyes6n)

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)