Rank: 47
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Morrison	88.98	49	87.02	47	62.6	41	15

Morrison County: steady progress but BEAD funding is not likely to help

Morrison County has had incremental broadband expansion in the last few years, which is why they retain their Yellow status. They been actively engaged in seeking better broadband for several years, including as part of the Resilient Region as a Blandin Broadband Community. They are making slow progress. Unfortunately, it seems that BEAD is funding primarily satellite connections, which doesn’t help meet state goals.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 687 locations in Morrison County. Some locations will qualify for fiber, but the majority 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. (Morrison 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.

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	87.02	84.91	82.53	77.57	73.96	70.03	69.64	42.74	28.83
25/3 (2022 goal)	88.98	87.15	85.16	79.08	79	82.7%	70.9%	65.1%	82.7%

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 Morrison: 687
The locations include a majority of satellite and some fiber connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	CTC	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite
Morrison	546	128	13	687	Morrison

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:

• Morrison County providers received $946.640 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $24.1 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, Morrison ranked 80 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants

• County: Morrison – Benton Cooperative Telephone Company Buckman Township
  Grant: $1,248,430, Local Match: $2,318,518, Total Budget: $3,566,948
• County: Morrison – Upsala Coop Tel Assoc dba Sytek – Sytek Swanville North Moose Lake
  Grant: $3,689,967, Local Match: $1,229,989, Total Budget: $4,919,956

• 2022: Morrison County will benefit from a ReConnect grant through Upsala Cooperative.

• 2017 – Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Rice Ramey – GRANT $765,015
• 2016 – BENTON COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE COMPANY BUCKMAN – GRANT: $276,230
• 2014 – Consolidated Telephone Cooperative, Region 5 Virtual Highway Project – Amount $2 million
• 2019: CTC (Consolidated Telephone Company) – Fort Ripley/Executive Acres Project – GRANT $830,587
• 2019: Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Ramey Phase I – GRANT $936,759

• MN State Grants awarded in 2021: Benton Cooperative Telephone Company – Ramey Phase 2 Project – GRANT $338,011 This last mile project will serve 119 unserved locations in the Ramey telephone exchange located in portions of Lakin and Mount Morris townships in Morrison County and a small portion of Dailey and Page townships located in Mille Lacs County.

• Sytek Communications – Morrison/Todd/Stearns County FTTP Project – GRANT $1,048,668 This last mile project will bring service to 130 locations in Southwest Morrison, Southeastern Todd and Northeastern Stearns counties.

Find more articles on broadband in Morrison County (http://tinyurl.com/hxkk5ur)

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)