Rank: 63
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Meeker	83.21	71	81.4	63	73.17	25	19

Meeker County: local providers should be a help

Meeker County has had steady, incremental increase in access since 2017. Meeker County is making good progress. They have several providers interested in the area, yet with less than 80 percent coverage, they retain their yellow ranking.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 554 locations in Meeker County. The majority of locations will get fiber access but the rest will get 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. (Meeker 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. That might be hopeful for Meeker County with the creation of MC Fiber, under Consolidated Telephone Company and Meeker Cooperative Light and Power, which is located in Meeker County.

Broadband Access:

	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	84.27	78.04	72.85		53.86	45.08	45.08	38.13
25/3 (2022 goal)	85.93	81.27	75.01		62.46	71.72	71.45	98.58

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 Meeker: 554
The locations include a majority of 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
Meeker	9	540	5	554	Meeker

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 Aitkin 0 was invested over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Meeker County providers received $318997.39 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards
• Broadband provider, Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association, becomes Meeker Energy

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, Meeker ranked 50 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Pass Grants:

• 2023: ReConnect grant connecting nearly 500 people, 124 farms, 16 businesses, and one educational facility to high-speed internet in Kandiyohi, Meeker and Stearns counties.
• 2022: Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association (Vibrant Broadband) – Big Swan Lake – GRANT $94,182
• 2022: Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association (Vibrant Broadband) – Collinwood Lake – GRANT $104,337
• 2022: Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association (Vibrant Broadband) – Dunns & Richardson Lakes – GRANT $80,202
• 2022: Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association (Vibrant Broadband) – Lake Erie – GRANT $19,093
• 2022: Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association (Vibrant Broadband) – Long Lake – GRANT $29,702 (Learn more)
• MN State Grant awarded in 2021: Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association (Vibrant Broadband) – Lake Koronis – GRANT $41,927 This last mile project will serve approximately 28 unserved and seven underserved locations in Union Grove Township in Meeker County.

• 2019: Nuvera Communications, Inc. – Hutchinson W Project – GRANT $346,282

Find more articles on broadband in Meeker County (http://tinyurl.com/gltzvoc)

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)