Rank: 82
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
| county | 25/3 | 253 rank | 100/20 | 10020 rank | Gig | gig rank | Providers |
| Pine | 75.27 | 82 | 71.29 | 83 | 51.75 | 54 | 15 |
Pine County: Progress is coming
Pine County’s broadband coverage increased greatly in the last year and with BEAD proposing to fund fiber in more than 2000 locations, their status has been upgraded from Red to Yellow.
At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 2,587 locations in Pine County. The majority of locations will get fiber, however 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. (Pine has 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. The emergence of East Central Energy has been a positive force in Pine County.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 71.29 | 61.63 | 40.71 | 35.1 | 39.89 | 39.13 | 37.26 | 38.18 | 37.37 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 75.27 | 68.4 | 49.95 | 44.74 | 52.02 | 60.24 | 58.28 | 42.84 | 40.12 |
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 Anoka: 2,587
The locations include a majority of fiber and a few satellite and fixed wireless connections.
| County | Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC | East Central Energy Fiber | IBT Group USA, LLC | Mediacom LLC | Midco | Space Exploration Technologies Corp. | Locations Grand Total | County |
| Technology Type | Low Earth Orbit Satellite | Fiber | Fixed Wireless | Fiber | Fiber | Low Earth Orbit Satellite | ||
| Pine | 84 | 1,975 | 24 | 123 | 374 | 7 | 2,587 | Pine |
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 Pine $160,000 was invested in one project over the years.
New Posts from 2025:
- Pine County providers received $735,691.19 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards
- Office of Broadband Development visits ECE in Pine City (Pine County)
- Pine County offers support and possible funding to Mediacom BEAD application
- ECE expands broadband from east of Hinckley to the Wisconsin border (Pine County)
- Pine County is focused on ubiquitous broadband – better maps and a speed test could help
- Office of Broadband Development and Legislators visit East Central Energy fiber network in Pine City
Highlights from Past Reports
- 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $84.4 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, Pine ranked 86 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.
Past Grants
- Savage Communications Inc – SCI – East Central MN
Grant: $3,563,817, Local Match: $3,713,817, Total Budget: $7,277,634 - 2022: East Central Energy, $4,750,000.00 (serving Pine and Kanabec) (Learn more)
- 2022: East Central Energy – Kanabec Central – GRANT $4,403,000
- 2017 – SCI (Savage Communications Inc.) — Dell Grove Township Broadband Expansion – GRANT $118,248
Find more articles on broadband in Pine County (http://tinyurl.com/ha8burg)
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.
-
- Pine County (MN Map)
-
- Pine County (National Map)
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)