Rank: 52
Code:  Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Nobles	88.37	53	85.58	52	24.2	80	17

Nobles County: Stagnant but building relationships

Nobles County’s broadband coverage has remained stagnant for three years. They have been building a relationship with a local provider. But unfortunately, it looks they will not get much help from BEAD funding. That is why they have dropped from Yellow to Red status.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 65 locations in Nobles County. However, locations will get a 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. (Nobles has not benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So that seems like a strategy worth considering.)

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)	85.58	85.17	85.35	80.27	81.24	81.24	77.66	77.18	59.25
25/3 (2022 goal)	88.37	87.99	87.76	83.1	83.71	83.54	80.89	79.24	75.69

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 Nobles: 65
The locations include fixed wireless connections.

County	AMG Technology Investment Group, LLC d/b/a Nextlink Internet	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Fixed Wireless
Nobles	65	65	Nobles

 

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 Murray $50,000 was invested in one project over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Lismore Coop talking to Nobles County about extending FTTH to Rushmore and Ellsworth
• Lismore Telephone and Nobles County kick of FTTP project funded by ReConnect and MN State Grants

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $9.4 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, Nobles ranked 69 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants

• County: Nobles – Lismore Cooperative Telephone Co City of Bigelow FTTP
  Grant: $208,598, Local Match: $486,730, Total Budget: $695,328

• 2023: Lismore Cooperative Telephone Company ReConnect grant: $13,688,114 and loan: $5,723,996
• 2016 LISMORE COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE NOBLES COUNTY BROADBAND – GRANT: $2,944,578
• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile – Grant award: $808,080

Find more articles on broadband in Nobles County (http://tinyurl.com/j52xvxu)

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)