KTTC reports...

RadioLink Internet (RLI) notified customers in an email last week it was shutting down immediately. …

The company, which was based at Petsinger’s home in Ellendale, provided internet for residents across approximately 5,000 square miles in southern Minnesota.

Petsinger said a changing political climate in some of the communities his company provided internet for and a declining customer base led to the closing.

In an email sent to KTTC, Petsinger alleged the cities of Ellendale and New Richland violated the Telecommunications Act of 1996 “by shutting down broadband competition.”

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 states “No State or local statute or regulation, or other State or local legal requirement, may prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability of any entity to provide any interstate or intrastate telecommunications service.”

New Richland’s city administrator, Tyler Lendt, told KTTC the city council voted in May 2026 to remove RLI’s equipment from its water tower with a 60-day notice. Lendt said the city and company had contract from 2013 to 2018, but the equipment hadn’t been removed since the contracted ended.

Responding to the Telecommunications Act allegation, Lendt said the council’s decision to end the contract was “based on ensuring that the city was fairly compensate and, most importantly, one of the city’s most crucial pieces of infrastructure was protected.”

A representative from Ellendale has yet to provide comment.

Living in a rural area of Steele County, Ludeman said she relied on RLI’s fast internet speed during the COVID-19 pandemic to work remotely and needed the connection to better use her phone.