Rank: 65
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
St. Louis	83.8	70	81.23	65	25.29	78	21

St Louis County: Providers are active

St Louis County’s broadband coverage increased in 2025. A couple of providers have been active in the area and BEAD will bring in some funding for fiber. St Louis retains their Yellow status.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 11,678 locations in St Louis County. More than half of the connections will be fiber, the rest is a mix of 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. (St Louis has benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So that seems hopeful for them as well.) 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)	81.23	75.79	73.14	74.89	79.49	79.22	78.2	41.2	38.78
25/3 (2022 goal)	83.8	80.38	78.35	79.7	85.5	86.72	86.23	83.47	82.72

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 St. Louis: 11,678
The locations include a majority of satellite and fixed wireless connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	CTC	Frontier	IBT Group USA, LLC	Mediacom LLC	Midco	PAUL BUNYAN COMMUNICATIONS	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Tekstar Communications, Inc. (Arvig)	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber	Fiber	Fixed Wireless	Fiber	Fiber	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber
St. Louis	3,495	380	1,383	1,516	3,634	49	991	168	62	11,678	St. Louis

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 St Louis County, $4.573.980 was invested in nine projects over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• St Louis County providers received $2,619,282.61 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards

• IRRR announces $383,000 broadband grant for Paul Bunyan Communications (St Louis County)
• St Louis County spent $2.76 million ARPA funds on broadband
• Broadband Expansion Continues in Itasca and St. Louis Counties
• Paul Bunyan Communication expands to Itasca and St. Louis Counties
• Paul Bunyan Communications broadband expansion updates in Itasca and St. Louis Counties
• Paul Bunyan Communications updates on expansion in St. Louis & Itasca County
• Paul Bunyan Communications’ broadband Expansion continues in Itasca and St. Louis Counties
• Paul Bunyan Communications Update: Broadband Expansion Progressing in Itasca and St. Louis Counties
• CTC is deploying fiber to Breitung Town (St. Louis County)

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $227 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, St Louis ranked 84^thusing Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants

• Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative NW St. Louis County GigaZone Expansion
  Grant: $3,924,157, Local Match: $2,099,108, Total Budget: $6,023,265
• Representative Liz Olson, Senator Jen McEwen – Mediacom LLC Lakewood South
  Grant: $232,800, Local Match: $543,200, Total Budget: $775,999
• Representative Liz Olson, Senator Jen McEwen – Mediacom LLC Lakewood Normanna
  Grant: $145,000, Local Match: $526,325, Total Budget: $671,325
• Consolidated Telephone Company – CTC – RD9 Clinton Twp
  Grant: $2,292,790, Local Match: $2,292,790, Total Budget: $4,585,580
• Mediacom LLC – Mediacom – Esquagama Lake
  Grant: $961,102, Local Match: $961,102, Total Budget: $1,922,204
• 2023: Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Coop – Paul Bunyan Communications Rural GigaZone Fiber – GRANT $5,569,281

• 2022: Mediacom Minnesota LLC, $7,363,624.53
• 2022: Mediacom Minnesota LLC – Esko – GRANT $4,400,732
• 2022: Mediacom Minnesota LLC – Project 19 – Hibbing – GRANT $2,141,135
• 2022: Paul Bunyan Communications – Northern Minnesota GigaZone Fiber – GRANT $3,052,120
• 2022: Savage Communications Inc., $562,098.00
• 2022: Consolidated Telephone Company, $4,857,030.00 (serving St Louis and Cass)
• 2022: Mediacom Minnesota LLC – Esquagama Lake – GRANT $821,758

• 2017 – CenturyLink – Fredenberg Township FTTH Project – GRANT $1,809,312
  2017 – Paul Bunyan Communications – North Central Fiber – GRANT $802,620
• 2017 – MEDIACOM FAYAL TOWNSHIP – GRANT: $263,345
• 2014 – Mediacom, Pintar Road – Award: $137,848. Total project cost: $275,697.
• 2014 – Northeast Service Cooperative – Frontier Communications Corp., Border to Border Phase I – Award: $1.96 million.
• 2019: Paul Bunyan Communications – North Central Minnesota Fiber Project– GRANT $2,562,916

• MN State Grants awarded in 2021: Charter Communications (Spectrum) – Getchell Road – GRANT $11,400 This middle and last mile project will provide broadband service to eight unserved households in northern Duluth in St. Louis County.

• Mediacom Minnesota LLC – Field of Dreams Hermantown Project – GRANT $624,751 This last mile project will serve approximately 267 underserved households, six underserved businesses, and one underserved community anchor institution in Hermantown in St. Louis County.
• Paul Bunyan Communications – City of Cook GigaZone Fiber – GRANT $311,254 This last mile project will improve high-speed broadband for 57 unserved and 254 underserved locations in the community of Cook in St. Louis County.

Find more articles on broadband in St Louis County (http://tinyurl.com/jnm9jah)

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)