Rank: 56
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Le Sueur	87.27	58	85.29	56	57.98	47	17

Le Sueur County: When Federal Funding gets in the way

Le Sueur County has seen incremental improvements in broadband since 2022 but they are still below 90 percent access, which means they retain their Yellow status.

Le Sueur became a Blandin Broadband Community and the Le Sueur County Broadband Initiative  is active with an annual booth at the County Fair and other activities.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 1,129 locations in Le Sueur County. The majority of locations will get fiber but a few will get 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. (Le Sueur 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. Le Sueur is keeping an eye on changes in their area.

Broadband Access:

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	85.29	82.79	81.23	74.92	76	70.67	70.33	70.65	82.78
25/3 (2022 goal)	87.27	84.87	83.68	80.61	79.35	80.45	79.91	72.68	90.39

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 Le Sueur: 1,129
The locations include a majority of satellite and fixed wireless connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	AMG Technology Investment Group, LLC d/b/a Nextlink Internet	IBT Group USA, LLC	Mediacom LLC	Midco	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fixed Wireless	Fixed Wireless	Fiber	Fiber
Le Sueur	8	237	1	252	631	1,129	Le Sueur

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 Le Sueur, $814,00 was invested in three projects over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Le Sueur County providers received $127,288 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $21 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 ranked 26 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.
• They were hit hard when LTD Broadband was awarded federal funding and then funding was revoked. They lost the funding but also lost time when they were unable to apply for grants because of LTD Broadband’s award.
• In May 2024, Le Sueur was awarded $1 million for the Le Sueur County Broadband Initiative. These funds will be used to expand broadband access throughout the county.

Past Grants:

• County: Le Sueur – Bevcomm Inc Tyrone Township Fiber Expansion Project
  Grant: $1,101,801, Local Match: $367,267, Total Budget: $1,469,068
• 2022: Bevcomm – Rural Le Sueur County Broadband Expansion Project – Phase Two – GRANT $941,576 (Learn more)

• 2016 – ECKLES TELEPHONE COMPANY (DBA BEVCOMM) RURAL HEIDELBERG– GRANT:  $188,000
• BEVCOMM (Eckles Telephone Company) – Le Sueur County Project – GRANT $1,857,376

Find more articles on broadband in Le Sueur County (http://tinyurl.com/jbg7ghy)

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)