Rank: 36
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Lake of the Woods	93.78	37	91.79	36	47.38	56	5

Lake of the Woods County: Progress in the last year

Lake of the Woods County saw incremental progress in the last year. Last year, they saw nice progress in the last year and that is why their ranking went from red to yellow. The incremental increase in 2025 helps them retain their Yellow.

I don’t hear much about their broadband efforts and they have had no Line Extension or MN Broadband grants in 2024 but I’m hoping the latest success build a momentum leading up to BEAD opportunities.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 1,437 locations in Anoka County. However, the majority of locations will get a satellite or fixed wireless connection, 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. (Anoka has benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So that seems hopeful for them as well.) There have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty.

Broadband Access:

	2025	2024	2023	2022		2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	91.79	90.22	78.82	74.26		74.31	53.93	50.47	0
25/3 (2022 goal)	93.78	92.93	85.45	74.6		74.55	57.42	50.47	50.61

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 Lake of the Woods: 329
The locations include a majority of satellite and fixed wireless connections with some fiber.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Wikstrom Telephone Company Inc	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber
Lake of the Woods	191	8	130	329	Lake of the Woods

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 Lake of the Woods 0 was invested over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Lake of the Woods County providers received $41,427 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards
• Becker County community leaders testify at the MN Legislature on the value of data centers in their community.
• More on Becker County experience recruiting data centers.

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $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, Lake of the Woods ranked 82 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.
• Lake of the Woods was a Blandin Broadband Community.

Past Grants:

• 2022: Wikstrom Telephone Co. Inc, $665,699.00 (to serve Beltrami, Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Marshall)
• 2016 – SJOBERG’S INC. ROSEAU AND LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTIES — GRANT: $354,740
• 2016 – WIKSTROM TELEPHONE COMPANY WIKTEL NW MN – GRANT: $950,823
• 2019: Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband Project – GRANT $1,151,526

Find more articles on broadband in Lake of the Woods County (http://tinyurl.com/gpfu7dd)

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)