Rank: 62
Code: Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Rice	88.04	54	83.95	62	83.7	19	19

Rice County: Dropped from yellow to red ranking 

Rice County’s broadband coverage seems to be incrementally shrinking, albeit within a margin of error. They should receive some BEAD funding but only for satellite and fixed wireless. They maintain their Red status.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 2,188 locations in Rice County. More than half will get fiber but the rest 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. (Rice 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)	83.95	85.44	84.16	85.23	85.58	82.95	82.43	32.63	48.85
25/3 (2022 goal)	88.04	89.1	88.89	90.12	94.18	93.75	92.46	93.2	97.93

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: 2,188
The locations include a mix of fiber as well as satellite and fixed wireless connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	IBT Group USA, LLC	Midco	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Spectrum Mid-America, LLC	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fixed Wireless	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber
Rice	179	512	943	3	551	2,188	Rice

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 Rice $150,000 was invested in one project over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• RiceCounty providers received $85,860.66 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards

• Mediacom brings Gig+ service to Webster and Elko New Market (Rice and Scott Counties)
• Mediacom Communications today announces multi-gig broadband in Blue Earth, Brown, McLeod, Meeker, Nicollet, Redwood, Renville, Rice, Scott, Waseca, Watonwan Counties and Lower Sioux Reservation

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $30.8 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, Rice ranked 12 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants:

• MN State Grants awarded in 2021: Nuvera Communications, Inc. – Webster Rural FTTP – GRANT $431,260 This last mile project will serve 103 unserved and 178 underserved locations in Wheatland and Webster townships in Rice County, Euraka and Greenvale townships in Dakota County, and New Market and Cedar Lake townships in Scott County.

• BEVCOMM (Cannon Valley Telecom, Inc.) – Rural Morristown Fiber Expansion Project – GRANT $210,692 This last mile project will serve approximately 14 unserved and 94 underserved locations in portions of Rice, Waseca, and Steele counties.

Find more articles on broadband in Rice County (http://tinyurl.com/jg6q8gs)

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)