Category Archives: Community Networks

Willmar Council votes to accept $7.6M bid to begin broadband deployment

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The West Central Tribune reports that the Willmar City Council finally votes to move forward with a broadband plan…

After nearly three years of planning, the  Willmar City Council,  in a split 5-3 vote on Tuesday, accepted the low bid from NC3 for the construction of phase one of the Willmar Connect broadband project.

The motion to accept the bid was made by Councilor Tom Gilbertson and seconded by Councilor Vicki Davis, who both voted in favor of the motion. Councilors Audrey Nelsen, Justin Ask and Carl Shuldes also voted in favor of the motion. Voting against the motion were Councilors Stephen Gardner, Rick Fagerlie and Tom Butterfield.

The Willmar Connect initiative is the city’s plan to construct a citywide, city-owned, open-access broadband network, which the city has been researching and planning for since early 2023.

The Willmar Connect initiative is the city’s plan to construct a citywide, city-owned, open-access broadband network, which the city has been researching and planning for since early 2023. …

The project is planned in three phases, with phase one covering all businesses and residences west of First Street South between U.S. Highway 12 and 19th Avenue. Phase one’s final estimated cost is a little more than $8 million, according to Willmar City Operations Director Kyle Box.

The low bid from NC3 of Clearbrook, Minnesota, for phase one is approximately $7.6 million.

Willmar MN gets nice nod in list of Municipal Networks that Launched in 2025 – for getting so close

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The Institute for Local Self Reliance reports…

By any measure, 2025 was a tough year in the grand project to extend fast, affordable, reliable broadband access to every home in the United States. The Digital Equity Act was abruptly cancelled, BEAD was restructured, small- and large-scale outages were common, and prices from the monopolies rose yet again.

But good things happened, too. In 2025, we saw seven new municipal broadband networks across the country that were lit up for service. As is usual, it was a mixture of partnerships, business models, and construction approaches to meet the unique challenges of a patchwork broadband landscape.

Willmar gets a nice nod…

Honorable mention to cities like Willmar, Minnesota – which did a monumental amount of preparatory work in 2025 and will start building its open access retail network later this year.

Willmar Council to consider awarding bids for Willmar Connect on Jan 20

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The West Central Tribune reports on what has become an ongoing story of broadband in Willmar…

The Willmar City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 20, will consider awarding the bids for construction of phase one of the Willmar Connect project.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the boardroom of the Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services building, 2200 23rd St. N.E. in Willmar. The council meets Tuesday due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday.

The Willmar Connect project is the city’s plan to construct a city-wide, city-owned, open access broadband network, which the city has been researching and planning for since early 2023.

The city has contracted with Hometown Fiber to assist with network design and the phased build-out of the network, as well as also operate and manage the network on which multiple internet service providers can operate. The ISPs will pay fees to the city, which will generate the revenue to service the debt and interest on the approximately $24.5 million in bonds that will be issued to pay for network construction.

The low bid for phase one came from NC3 of Clearbrook, Minnesota, in the amount of approximately $7.6 million.

EVENT Jan 20: AAPB and ILSR to Host Webinar on Legal Challenges Facing Community Broadband

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From the Institute for Local Self Reliance…

Cities and towns building or expanding locally owned broadband networks can face a complex and confusing legal landscape.

To help local leaders better understand those challenges, the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative are kicking off the new year with another one of their increasingly popular and informative webinars.

The free event, “Navigating the Legal Landscape of Community Broadband” is slated for Tuesday, January 20, from 12 to 1 p.m. ET.

Registration is now open here.

More on the Broadband in rural St. Louis County

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I wrote about the good news in St Louis County earlier, but always nice to see more mainstream media sources pick up on it. Fox21 also tells the story, with video…

After more than a decade of planning and persistence, broadband internet is finally expanding to four of St. Louis County’s most rural townships.

In an era where internet access is often taken for granted, many families in rural parts of the county have long struggled with limited or unreliable service. Leaders say geography and distance have made it difficult for providers to justify the costly infrastructure needed to reach these areas.

That reality is now changing.

“I started crying. I couldn’t believe it after all this time,” said retired township supervisor Jan Keough, who has been involved in the effort since 2009.

“The main lesson is, persistence pays off,” Keough said.

Another key figure in the project is Rod Saline, a supervisor for North Star Township, one of the four townships slated to receive broadband service. Saline said approximately 548 residents will now have the opportunity to connect.

He says the benefits go far beyond faster internet speeds.

Rural St Louis County is getting better broadband through BEAD and Mediacom

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News from North Star Township and Pequaywan Township in St Louis County..

Minnesota broadband grants, funded by the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will include funding to Mediacom to bring a fiber optic network to rural North Star and Pequaywan Townships and adjacent areas. On December 22, 2025, Senator Klobuchar announced that the Minnesota grant program had been approved by NTIA. “I’m thrilled to announce that Minnesota’s broadband funding
proposal has been approved, which will bring fast, affordable, reliable internet to families in every
corner of our state, especially in North Star, Pequaywan, and other rural townships,” said Senator
Klobuchar. “This funding is available thanks to my bipartisan legislation that I fought to pass so that
Minnesota families—regardless of their ZIP code—have access to high-speed internet.”
“For more than a decade, the residents and leaders of North Star and Pequaywan Townships have done everything right—planning, organizing, and advocating for better connectivity—and this investment finally delivers on that work,” said Bree Maki, Executive Director of The Office of
Broadband Development “BEAD funding is designed to reach exactly these kinds of rural communities
that the market alone has not served, and this project will help to ensure families, businesses, and first responders in St. Louis County have access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet that meets today’s needs and tomorrow’s opportunities.”
North Star and Pequaywan Townships along with a handful of other rural townships in St Louis County,
have been working to bring reliable, affordable and fast internet access to their communities since 2009. Townships have lobbied providers, conducted feasibility studies, satisfaction surveys, and outreach. More populous townships have attracted broadband providers, but the more rural and less populous townships including North Star and Pequaywan have had no success until now.
In St. Louis County, Mediacom, in recent years, began building a fiber optic network in Lakewood Township and later, into Normanna Township, bringing their network to the North Star Township border. This gave township officials new incentive to convince Mediacom to extend north. Mediacom successfully applied for BEAD funding for North Star and Pequaywan Townships and adjacent areas.
“We are thrilled to have recently been awarded grants through the state’s BEAD program,” said Christopher Lord, Mediacom’s Senior Director of Government Partnership Opportunities. “We have long enjoyed a highly collaborative relationship with the amazing team at Minnesota DEED, and NorthStar Township, Pequaywan Township, Ault Township, and Unorganized Township 54-13, have been great local partners throughout this process. We look forward to delivering fiber-to-the-home broadband services to these communities and seeing the great impact these services will have on the residents and businesses in these townships.”

Funding from the BEAD program will also greatly expand broadband availability across in St Louis County. Commissioner Paul McDonald noted “This is fantastic news for these townships who have been working diligently for over 15 years to get quality broadband”.
Officials from North Star and Pequaywan Townships have been working to prepare their property owners to get the Mediacom fiber optic service through hosting town hall meetings and newsletters.
Rod Saline, North Star Supervisor, noted “Our citizens, small businesses, and especially our Fire/EMS Department, are looking forward to having access to reliable, affordable, and really fast broadband!”
Doug Nelson, Pequaywan Supervisor, added “This announcement from Sen Klobuchar is welcome news for all the residents in our area as this broadband service is greatly needed.”
Information on the Minnesota BEAD broadband program can be found at:
https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/broadband/bead/

Willmar City Council delays announcement of Willmar Connect broadband plan

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Willmar City Council had planned to announce the broadband plans at Monday’s council meeting. Instead, West Central Tribune reports…

Consideration for awarding the bid for the Willmar Connect initiative was expected to be on the Willmar City Council agenda on Monday, Jan. 5, but that agenda item was again delayed.

When asked why, City Operations Director Kyle Box explained the agreements with the internet service providers that will be operating on the network and paying fees to the city were not yet ready for approval.

He also shared that the low bid, about which the City Council was briefed on Dec. 15, is ready for approval, but the ISP agreements also need to be ready for approval to ensure the council members that the project is financially feasible.

A little more on the low bid…

The low bid from NC3 of Clearbrook, Minnesota, for phase one is in the amount of approximately $7.6 million. The city expects to collect a fee between $40 and $44 per subscription from the ISPs that use the network, according to Box.

Willmar City Council to decide on broadband plan amidst some criticism

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The West Central Tribune reports…

The Willmar City Council on Monday, Jan. 5, is expected to consider awarding the bid for the construction of phase one of the Willmar Connect initiative to construct a city-owned, open-access broadband network.

At the Dec. 15 City Council meeting, Bob Enos was joined by approximately 10 people to speak against the initiative. Enos spoke while others held up signs stating, “Shame on you! Willmar City Council — $25 million for internet and you don’t ask?” The signs also had a graphic of people below the text.

Willmar has been working on better broadband for years…

The project is planned in three phases, with phase one covering all businesses and residences west of First Street South between U.S. Highway 12 and 19th Avenue. Phase one’s estimated cost is approximately $7.8 million. As of the Dec. 15 meeting, city staff were vetting a bid of $7.6 million.

Phase two will build out the network in the southern and eastern portions of the city and phase three will build it out to the north at a cost of approximately $7 million each.

During his address, Enos accused city staff of failing to conduct due diligence on the project and of withholding information from the City Council regarding failed municipal networks.

“The public is left with three questions. Number one, did the city staff fail to do the basic due diligence that I did at home in my spare time? If not, that’s pure laziness and incompetence,” Enos continued. “Number two, did the city staff, in fact, do its due diligence and then withhold information that didn’t support the desired narrative? If that’s so, that’s fraudulent. Or, has the City Council been fully aware of the financial damage other cities suffered — the risk of this infrastructure becoming prematurely obsolete in an industry evolving at hyper speed — and yet chooses to put the taxpayers at risk anyway? If so, that’s immoral.”

The City Council responded…

“With all due respect, I appreciate the opinions and the point of view that any member of the community may have on the project, that’s why we’re at this public forum or public setting to have these conversations,” Box said. “ … I can absolutely take criticism if I need to, but I feel we’ve done our due diligence. We have been very conservative in all of our project funding. We’ve tried to keep this as tight as we can without having to slow the project down too much, where we lose interest.”

He noted that he has never said there would be zero risk in completing this project, and if the council approves moving forward with it and nobody signs up for it, the city still has to pay the debt for it. He also noted there is a lot of data about both successful and failed projects.

The article goes on to outline several municipal networks.

Willmar Council considers awarding bid for Willmar Connect in January

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The West Central Tribune reports…

The Willmar City Council on Dec. 15 heard an update on the Willmar Connect initiative from City Operations Director Kyle Box, who said awarding of the bid for the project should be ready for consideration in January.

Willmar City Council is expected to consider awarding the bid for the Willmar Connect initiative at its first meeting in January 2026, according to Willmar City Operations Director Kyle Box.

Box provided an update on the Willmar Connect initiative at the Dec. 15 meeting of the City Council.

The Willmar Connect initiative is the city’s plan to construct a citywide, city-owned, open-access fiber broadband network. The city will own the infrastructure and Hometown Fiber will operate and manage the network on which multiple internet service providers can operate.

The various ISPs operating on the system will pay fees to the city, which will be used to service the debt and interest on approximately $24.5 million in bonds issued to pay for its construction.

MN Public Broadband Alliance Meeting Dec 2025: National view from Gigi Sohn

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The MN Public Broadband Alliance is an organization for communities (such as counties) that are seeking better broadband. They host a monthly meeting for members, which includes a presentation from Gigi Sohn, American Association for Public Broadband, on what’s happening to broadband on the national scope. One update that didn’t make the PPT – As of today: GAO determined that June 6 policy guidance are not in effective because NTIA didn’t submit changes to Congress. This may change nothing practically, but technically it is true.

We also chatted about what’s happening in Minnesota – which means talking about BEAD, changes in providers and trying to keep up.

Willmar Connect bids to build open-access broadband are coming in

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The West Central Tribune reports…

The West Central Tribune reports…

The city of Willmar announced Wednesday that it opened bids for phase one of the city-wide, open-access broadband project known as Willmar Connect, with the apparent low bid coming in under the estimated costs for phase one construction.

Phase one involves constructing the network operations center and installing fiber throughout all the neighborhoods west of First Street South, between U.S. Highway 12 and 19th Avenue. Phase one may expand into areas within phase two of the project if there are clusters of residents and businesses who have completed the advance sign-up for the service.

The infrastructure will be owned by the city and the network will be managed by Hometown Fiber. Multiple internet service providers can contract with the city to offer services on the network for a fee, which will be used to pay the principal and interest on the bonds that will fund the construction of the project. Eventually, those fees are expected to generate revenue for the city, as well.

If approved by the Willmar City Council on Dec. 15, construction of phase one of the Willmar Connect project will begin in early 2026. The project has been a long time coming since it was first considered in 2022, with thorough vetting and research completed by the city to ensure its success.

Sherburne County to expands Arvig Elk River and Haven/Clear Lake Broadband Grant Program

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The Patriot News reports on Sherburne County business…

The board approved amendments to Arvig Elk River and Haven/Clear Lake Broadband Grant Program agreements

Arvig received ARPA Broadband Access Program grants for several projects in 2023. The Elk River Round #1, Elk River Round #2, and the Clear Lake/Haven Round #2 projects were completed (or are very near to completion) under budget.

Staff recommended utilizing the remaining funds ($453,300) to expand the original scope of each project. The revised project scope would serve an additional 71 passings, which include 10 unserved and 61 underserved properties in Elk River, Haven, and Clear Lake.

Minnesota Public Broadband Alliance Meeting: Federal look at BEAD from Gigi Sohn

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The Minnesota Public Broadband Alliance is an interesting group of community leaders who are interested in broadband in their areas. The group includes folks who are technical and folks who understand the need. We get some examples of how broadband is making municipal life easier – such a remote meter reading, which means no more meter reader knocking on the door. And we learn about the ins and outs with partnering with different types of organizations to build better networks. Very creative!

Gigi Sohn often joins the call, which is a fantastic glimpse at what’s happening at the national level and often a sneak peek into some of the inner workings. I have high level notes from the meeting below.

Notes from Gigi Sohn

  • 18 BEAD plans are OK’ed but only one has NIST approval
  • NTIA is tinkering with benefit of the bargain, then best and final offer – where lowest wins no matter what. Apparently, NTIA is making folks do a second “best and final offer” round.
  • NTIA has sights out for public broadband and cooperatives
  • On Friday Executive Order that will require all states to pre-empt all local AI regulations before getting fed funding. This may be a stopper.
  • Nondeployment money could be used for adoption et al when first introduced but now – seems like the states will have to give back all or most of the unused (nondeployment) funds
  • Some in congress is writing bills to give the money back to the federal government
  • Benton is working on a letter (125 legislators have signed) to let states keep their designated funds
  • Recommended reading: From Promises to Performance: BEAD Enforcement Tools States Need Now
  • Recommended webinar: Building Smarter Cities and the Cost of Doing Nothing

Questions:

How can we support Gigi?
Get MN policymakers to sign the Benton letter

Are here any community networks interested in private funding?
Sounds like a disaster

Notes from OBD

  • MN did not accept non-use of waivers. We think we have support on some of the waivers.
  • There is more than $200 million in nondeployment
  • There is support in Congress to let states keep their money
  • It seems like NTIA wants to push too far – get to a point where providers won’t sign a contract
  • Minnesota’s proposal is close – but the slow down is likely the waivers
  • NIST is an issue.
  • LEO is a hiccup when you want to build to the future
  • Line Extension is due next week (Nov 25)

Questions:

Is there a template or model we can create for counties to show what BEAD can look like?
Yes, very close

What could the unintended consequences be on border to border program?
We need to do education on what federal funding means versus state funding. Providers are also looking at the cost of federal funding.

Next Meeting Dec 17 – and that could be a very important meeting.

Lismore Coop talking to Nobles County about extending FTTH to Rushmore and Ellsworth

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The Worthington Globe reports…

Travis Halbur of Lismore Cooperative Telephone Company met with the Nobles County Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning to discuss a new project endeavor with intent to request funding assistance from the county.

Carter Grupp, consulting project manager at Finley Engineering Company, was also present to offer more information on the project, which is intended to bring a fiber line into Rushmore, Ellsworth and other non-grant subscribers throughout the county.

Some specifics on the proposal…

The total cost of the project is estimated at $682,000. Nobles County was asked to provide 20%, or $136,400, as a local commitment toward an application to secure more funding through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Broadband Line Extension Connection program . The program awards grants for the extension of existing broadband infrastructure to unserved locations, which includes Ellsworth, Rushmore, Worthington and Fulda. …

With the line extension grant application due Nov. 25, there isn’t much time to gather funds. Though, the project is not meant to be a large-scale investment.

The proposed project would include about 18.74 miles of mainline cable, serving about 55 passings, which is an umbrella term to define an end user, such as a home, business, school, library or farm. Of those, 53 would be in Nobles County, while two would be in Murray County.

The cost per subscriber comes in at around $12,400, with the cost per mile at $36,000, which is pretty standard according to Grupp.

“We’re looking to leverage existing state funding to not only build last mile fiber, but also feed potentially four communities in Nobles County that don’t have access to fiber,” Grupp said.

 

More details on the Golden Valley’s upcoming FTTH deployment

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I wrote about Golden Valley’s broadband expansion last week, but MinneapoliMedia has more information…

Residents of Golden Valley could see fiber internet installation begin in many neighborhoods as early as Spring 2026, as multiple companies prepare to lay high-speed fiber optic cables throughout the city. The project will bring advanced broadband connectivity to both local residences and businesses, marking a significant step in the city’s digital infrastructure development.

City Engineer Michael Ryan confirmed that the city has already received plans and permit applications for more than 15 miles of fiber optic cable. “Golden Valley is behind other neighboring cities in fiber installation due to our undergrounding policy for new utility installations, which prohibits the use of existing overhead utility poles,” Ryan explained. “Despite this, we are confident that significant construction will begin in 2026.”

Fiber internet is considered a private utility, similar to gas or electric service. Its installation is managed by multiple private providers, with the City of Golden Valley facilitating permits and right-of-way access. The city does not select a single provider and cannot deny a permit if a company meets City Code requirements.

Key details for residents include:

  • Timeline: Construction is expected to start in Spring 2026.
  • Disruption: Active construction in a neighborhood typically lasts one to two weeks.
  • Installation Process: Utility marking via Gopher State One Call (GSOC), directional drilling to install underground conduit, fiber cable pulling, and splicing.
  • Restoration: Installing companies are responsible for restoring affected property, including lawns, sprinkler systems, and pavement.