Rank: 67
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Kandiyohi	87.09	59	80.69	67	64.83	37	21

Kandiyohi County: stagnant at 80 percent coverage

After some nice expansion last year, Kandiyohi County broadband access stayed stagnant in 2025. They retain their Yellow access because they have been engaged for years and seem to be in line for some fiber funding when BEAD is disbursed.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 712 locations in Kandiyohi County. A little more than half of locations will get fiber while the rest will get a satellite, which does not qualify as served in the MN statute.

There is still Line Extension funding yet to be distributed, which helps connect handfuls of  houses just beyond existing infrastructure. (Kandiyohi has benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So that seems hopeful for them as well.)

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

Broadband Access:

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	80.69	80.43	69.12	68.18	74.82	73.78	72.89	10.64	8.14
25/3 (2022 goal)	87.09	86.87	80	86.78	88.68	88.97	86.23	77.2	77.25

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 Kandiyohi: 712
The locations include a mix of fiber as well as f satellite and fixed wireless connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	Meeker Cooperative Light and Power	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite
Kandiyohi	267	342	8	617	Kandiyohi

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 Kandiyohi $3,144,780 was invested for three project over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Kandiyohi County providers received $$3,782,73.28 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards
• Update on Connect Willmar Initiative – open access network in Kandiyohi County

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $19.5 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, Kandiyohi ranked 84^th using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants

• County: Kandiyohi – Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association Gennessee Township
  Grant: $662,430, Local Match: $809,637, Total Budget: $1,472,067
• County: Kandiyohi – Representative Dave Baker, Senator Andrew R. Lang – Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association 58 – Kandiyohi Township
  Grant: $744,965, Local Match: $910,513, Total Budget: $1,655,478
• County: Kandiyohi – Federated Telephone Cooperated – Federated Tel – W Kandiyohi
  Grant: $8,202,000, Local Match: $8,202,000, Total Budget: $16,404,000
• County: Kandiyohi – Meeker Coop Light & Power Association – Meeker Fahlun
  Grant: $590,709, Local Match: $590,710, Total Budget: $1,181,419
• 2023: Meeker Coop Light & Power – Lake Elizabeth-East Lake Lillian Townships – GRANT $1,428,066

• 2023: Meeker Coop Light & Power – Harrison Township – GRANT $533,959
• 2022: Federated Telephone Cooperative, $4,913,505.50

• 2016 – FRONTIER KANDIYOHI INITIATIVE – GRANT: $1,015,275
• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile – Grant award: $808,080
• 2017, Consolidated Telecommunications Co. (CTC) was awarded a $4.94 million grant to improve serves in New London, Spicer and Willmar, and Frontier was awarded a grant of $1.02 million to improve service in rural Kandiyohi County. Unfortunately, the CTC project did not work out.

Find more articles on broadband in Kandiyohi. (http://tinyurl.com/z9wk7bm)

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)