Rank: 50
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Wright	91.78	43	88.01	44	32.02	67	23

Wright County: continued progress

Wright County’s broadband coverage has been increasing over the last few years. They have BEAD funding come in in for fiber, which will help them reach the state goals. Subsequently, the retain Green status.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 5,024 locations in Wright County. The majority of locations will get fiber but some 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. (Wright 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)	88.01	84.5	75.43	78.02	86.15	82.51	81.02	80.61	29.26
25/3 (2022 goal)	91.78	89.35	80.54	83.58	92.71	89.69	91.07	87.89	81.17

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 Wright: 5,024
The locations include a mix of fiber as well as of satellite and fixed wireless connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	Frontier	IBT Group USA, LLC	Meeker Cooperative Light and Power	Midco	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Spectrum Mid-America, LLC	Xfinity	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber	Fixed Wireless	Fiber	Fiber	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Fiber	Fiber
Wright	36	29	384	1,046	2,994	3	440	92	5,024	Wright

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 Wright $703,900 was invested in three projects over the years.

New Posts from 2025:

• Wright County providers received $603,805.31 in the first three rounds of Line Extension awards

• Wright County tells community about MN Broadband Line Extension grants
• Spectrum expands fiber access in Wright County with help from MN Broadband Grant
• Wright County points residents to Broadband Grant Challenge Portal
• Gateway Fiber building FTTH to Elk River and Otsego (Wright and Sherburne Counties)

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $19.5 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, Wright ranked 10 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grant:

• County: Wright
  Grant: $945,133, Local Match: $1,155,163, Total Budget: $2,100,296

• 2023: Frontier – Wright County – City of Clearwater – GRANT $829,800
• 2023 Arvig (Tekstar) – Wright County Area Fiber Extension – GRANT $879,747
• 2023: Meeker Coop Light & Power – French Lake Township – Wright County – GRANT $1,270,132
• 2022: Spectrum Mid-America, LLC managed by Charter Communications Inc., $2,832,155.00 (Learn more)
• 2022: Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association (Vibrant Broadband) – Collinwood Lake – GRANT $104,337
• Spectrum Mid-America, LLC managed by Charter Communications Inc. – Wright County Project 4 – GRANT $1,008,146

• 2017 – Midco (Midcontinent Communications) – Annandale East – GRANT $537,050
• Meeker Coop. Light & Power Assoc. (Vibrant Broadband) – Lake Louisa/Lake Marie Project – GRANT $297,940

Find more article on Wright County https://blandinonbroadband.org/?s=%22wright+county%22&submit=Search

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)