Washington County is poised to meet the state speed goals for 2022 and 2026; but they will need to make a concerted effort to get there.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Washington County has some metro areas and some rural areas. Unlike some of the more rural counties there is a business case for providers to come into the Washington County market. They are also fortunate in that they have been part of multi-county government networks led by Dakota County that provides a middle mile base from which other providers can build.

Washington County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, Midco applied to upgrade service in Washington. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 12 (down from 9)
• 25/3 ranking: 13
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 207.8
• Number of providers: 12

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Washington County (http://tinyurl.com/z4dwzyy)
• Districts: CD 2, 4, 6
  Senate: 38, 39, 43, 53, 54
  House: 38A, 38B, 39A, 39B, 43A, 43B, 53A, 53B, 54A, 54B
• Find your reps

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)

Swift County has gone from 30 percent access to 100/20 in 2017 to 99 percent in 2019. They are poised to meet the speed goals for both 2022 and 2026.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Swift County has benefited from two broadband grants:

• 2015 – Federated Telephone Cooperative – Swift County FTTP 2015
  Grant award: $4,950,000
  Serving 600 households, 425 businesses, and 75 community institutions in Swift County with Gig access.
• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile
  Grant award: $808,080
  This project is a Middle Mile broadband infrastructure buildout to upgrade backhaul capacity between site locations within 20 southwestern Minnesota counties: Blue Earth, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Meeker, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Rock, Redwood, Renville, Sibley Swift, Watonwan, and Yellow Medicine.

Swift County’s partnership with Federated Telephone has provided nearly ubiquitous coverage. Along with access, Swift County has been working on creating a culture of use by participating in the current  Blandin Broadband Community (BBC) cohort

Swift County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, MidState Telephone applied to upgrade service in Swift. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 3 (up from 41)
• 25/3 ranking: 5
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 5.6
• Number of providers: 10

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Swift County (http://tinyurl.com/zfptnnz)
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 17
  House: 17A
• Find your reps

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)

Stevens County is poised to meet the MN broadband speed goals for both 2022 and 2026. But they will need to make a final push for ubiquitous coverage.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Stevens County has been involved with broadband for a while. They were members of the 2009-2012 Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) program led by Blandin Foundation and federally funded through ARRA. It was an effort to promote use of broadband across rural Minnesota.

Stevens County has benefited from two MN broadband grants:

• 2017 – Advantenon – Rural Grant, Stevens and Wilkin Counties – Grant $316,554
  Serving 528 unserved households, 132 unserved businesses, and 8 unserved community anchor institutions in eligible in Grant, Stevens and Wilkin Counties with service levels to 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload, exceeding the state speed goal set for the year 2026.
• 2014 – Otter Tail Telcom, Swan Lake West
  Award: $438,937. Total project cost: $877,874. Impact: Service to 110 unserved locations near Swan Lake, on the outskirts of Fergus Falls.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 10 (down from 7)
• 25/3 ranking: 9
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 6.5
• Number of providers: 10

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Stevens County (http://tinyurl.com/joutu2h)
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 12
  House: 12A
• Find your reps

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)

The top rated county in Minnesota for access to broadband speeds of 100/20, for all practical purposes, Rock County has reached the MN broadband goals for both 2022 and 2026.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Rock County benefited from two MN broadband grants:

• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile
  Grant award: $808,080
  This project is a Middle Mile broadband infrastructure buildout to upgrade backhaul capacity between site locations within 20 southwestern Minnesota counties: Blue Earth, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Meeker, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Rock, Redwood, Renville, Sibley Swift, Watonwan, and Yellow Medicine.
• 2014 – Rock County Broadband Alliance (RCBA), FTTP Project
  Award: $5 million. Total project cost: $12.85 million. Impact: service to 1,261 homes and farms, 68 businesses, and 21 community institutions in Rock County.

The 2014 project set Rock County in a good direction.  In the summer of 2017, Rock County  shared their community broadband expertise by inviting the Minnesota Broadband Task Force to visit the area and learn more about the program. Rock County is a member of the 2018-2020 Blandin Broadband Community  cohort.  Residents are implementing projects to boost broadband adoption and sophistication of use as an economic development strategy.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 1 (no change)
• 25/3 ranking: 2
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 8.1
• Number of providers: 10

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Rock County (http://tinyurl.com/jjeesst)
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 22
  House: 22A
• Find your reps

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)

Ramsey County is likely to meet the MN speed goals for 2022 and 2026.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Ramsey County is a metro-based county where the market makes it feasible for broadband providers to serve broadband profitably. They have applied for state grants in the past. At one point they toyed with a municipally supported network. But the market  can take care of many of the needs.

Verizon recently announced plans for 5G expansion in St Paul. It’s likely that won’t impact their progress to speed goals, but it will offer a new option for the most urban areas.

Verizon recently announced plans for 5G expansion in St Paul. It’s likely that won’t impact their progress to speed goals, but it will offer a new option for the most urban areas of the county.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 2 (no change)
• 25/3 ranking: 3
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 1191.3
• Number of providers: 9

Details:

• Find more article on https://bit.ly/2kgeboX
• Districts: CD 4
  Senate: 38, 41, 42, 43, 53, 64, 65, 66, 67
  House: 38A, 41A, 41B, 42A, 42B, 43A, 43B, 53A, 64A, 64B, 65A, 65B, 66A, 66B, 67A, 67B
• Find your reps

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)

Based as much on their recent momentum as on their numbers, Polk County could very well meet the speed goals for 2022 and 2026; their odds are probably higher for 2026.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Polk County has benefited from three state broadband grants:

• 2016 – HALSTAD TELEPHONE COMPANY KERTSONVILLE AREA – GRANT: $296,665
  Serving 51 unserved households in Kertsonville and Onstad Townships in Polk with service levels to 1 Gigabit.
• 2015 – Halstad Telephone Company – Gentilly Township
  Grant award: $424,460
  Halstad Telephone Company will build out FTTH infrastructure in Gentilly Township in Polk County to provide state speed goal broadband service and above to 114 households, 20 businesses, and 1 community anchor institution in the Village of Gentilly and Gentilly Township (except for the NW corner of the township which is served already). The total project costs are $931,000; the remaining $504,540 (54 percent local match) will be provided by Halstad Telephone Company.
• 2014 – Halstad Telephone Co., Halstad Tract MN 11902500 FTTH
  Award: $1.65 million. Total project cost: $3.3 million. Impact: Service to 249 unserved locations in Polk County.

In 2018, Polk County also benefited when  Garden Valley Telephone Company received a loan of $20,360,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)  and  when Red River Valley Cooperative Power Association received a $8,000,000 USDA loan to improve infrastructure for a smart grid system.  They also will receive almost $2 million in FCC funding over the next 10 years.

While Polk County has a way to go to meet the 2026 goals, they have a lot of activity working in that direction. It may take even more activity but it’s easier to build on growing momentum.

Polk County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, Halstad Telephone Company and Garden Valley Telephone Company applied to upgrade service in Polk. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 19 (down from 16)
• 25/3 ranking: 23
• Has worked with Blandin
• Has received a MN Broadband grant
• Household density: 6.4
• Number of providers: 6

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Polk County (http://tinyurl.com/zk8apgm)
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 01
  House: 01B
• Find your reps

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)

Pennington is poised to meet the MN speed goals for both 2022 and 2026. They made a huge leap into availability before 2018, after receiving several MN grants.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Pennington County has benefited from several MN broadband grants:

• 2017 – Sjoberg’s Inc. – NW MN Rural Broadband – GRANT $307,088
  Serving 98 unserved households, 10 unserved businesses, and 3 community anchor institutions in a large area west of Thief River Falls in Pennington County with service levels to 1 Gbps down and up.
• 2016 – CENTURYLINK THIEF RIVER MIDDLE MILE – GRANT: $1,324,400
  Serving 491 unserved households and 118 unserved businesses in a 71.4 mile fiber build from Thief River to Roseau with service levels 25 Mbps download by 3 Mbps.
• 2016 – GARDEN VALLEY TELEPHONE COMPANY RURAL THIEF RIVER FALLS EAST – GRANT: $2,027,035
  Serving 330 unserved households, 23 unserved businesses, and 2 community anchor institutions in rural Thief River Falls with service levels to 1 Gigabit per second up and down.

Pennington County has done well with engaged providers. They need to continue to work with providers to reach the last almost four percent of households in the county.

Pennington County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, Wikstrom and Garden Valley applied to upgrade service in Pennington. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 11 (up from 12)
• 25/3 ranking: 16
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 9.4
• Number of providers: 6

Details:

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 01
  House: 01A, 01B
• Find your reps

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)

Olmsted County looks poised to meet both the 2022 and 2026 speed goals, although they will need to work to get there. They saw a huge increase in access to 100/20 in the last year; hopefully they can build on that progress.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Olmsted has benefited from a MN broadband grant:

• 2016 – KMTELECOM RURAL MANTORVILLE – GRANT: $764,663
  Serving 195 unserved households, 9 unserved businesses, and 1 unserved community anchor institution near Mantorville in east central Dodge County, with a small section of west central Olmsted County, in southeastern Minnesota with service levels to 1 Gigabit.

There are two factors that seem to have led to increase in 100/20 access – the KMTelecom grant and Mediacom’s  2017 announcement it would expand service to Chatfield, Dover Township. That indicates that there are at least two providers in the area interested in providing 100/20. The county needs to encourage those providers to expand or other providers to upgrade to the state goals.

Olmsted County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, BEVCOMM and KMTelecom applied to upgrade service in Olmsted. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 15 (up from 62)
• 25/3 ranking: 19
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 87
• Number of providers: 14

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Olmsted County (http://tinyurl.com/gmslyhe)
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 25, 26
  House: 25A, 25B, 26A, 26B
• Find your reps

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)

Lake County is poised to meet the state broadband goals for both 2022 and 2026 but much depends on the success of the  new management who recently took over the county network.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

In 2010, Lake County got an ARRA award of $66.3 million to improve broadband access in their area; about $10 million of the award was an outright grant; the rest was a low-interest loan. There were bumps along the road to getting fiber to the community and bumps remain. As it stands today, there are portions of the county that are not yet served with fiber. In the summer of 2019, the Lake County network was sold to Zito media for $84 million. They are a small cable and data operator based in Pennsylvania with operations in 17 states. The company has said that their focus is to connect as many customers as possible.

Time will tell if the new management is looking to invest in the area; there is certainly local demand.

Lake County was a 2013-2014 Blandin Broadband Community (BBC) and they were featured in a report on the community return on public investment in broadband, which found…

following investments have been made in the community:

• $56.3 million ARRA loan
• $10 million ARRA grant
• $17 million county investment
• $118,170 from Blandin Foundation for Broadband Adoption
• Total: $83,418,170

Using formulas devised to measure impact of broadband access, Lake County has the potential to realize from this investment:

• A combined household economic benefit of broadband of $13,695,550
• A combined increase in residential real estate value of $38,547,421

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 14 (down from 11)
• 25/3 ranking: 21
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 1.6
• Number of providers: 7

Details:

• See Blandin Foundation’s matrix of community broadband adoption projects:
  https://blandinfoundation.org/content/uploads/vy/BBC_2015-16_Project_Matrix.pdf
• Find more articles on broadband in Lake County (http://tinyurl.com/j7pu3le)
• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 03
  House: 03A
• Find your reps

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)

Lac qui Parle is on track to meet both the 2022 and 2026 state broadband speed goals.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

In 2009 Blandin Foundation funded a feasibility study for the county and Farmers Telephone Cooperative.  The feasibility study’s engineering, operational, and market development plans were later used to support the partners’ successful ARRA funding application.

The county and Farmers were awarded a $9.6 million ARRA award in August 2010.

Construction began in late 2011 and was completed in the summer of 2014, having connected about 1,700 locations that previously had had no access to modern connections.

Unfortunately, the county seat of Madison did not qualify for the upgrade because their connection speeds were deemed too good for the upgrade. So LqP is in an unusual position where the biggest city is least-served and the rest of the county has fiber to the home.

The network has allowed home-based businesses and entrepreneurship to explode in the county, and also been a boon to small businesses. LqP’s partnership with Blandin continued through Lac qui Parle Valley School’s participation in the Blandin Broadband Communities (BBC) initiative.

LqP has benefited from two MN state grants:

• 2017 – Farmers Mutual Telephone – City of Watson and SW Lac qui Parle County FTTP – GRANT $760,501
  Serving 136 unserved households, 15 unserved businesses, and 5 community anchor institutions within the City of Watson and several unserved areas of southwest Lac qui Parle County in western Minnesota with service levels to 1 Gbps down and 1 Gbps up.
• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile
  Grant award: $808,080
  This project is a Middle Mile broadband infrastructure buildout to upgrade backhaul capacity between site locations within 20 southwestern Minnesota counties: Blue Earth, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Meeker, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Rock, Redwood, Renville, Sibley Swift, Watonwan, and Yellow Medicine.

To get 100 percent coverage, LqP will likely need to work with Farmers (now Acria) to expand their connectivity or with another incumbent provider to match their speeds.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 9 (down from 6)
• 25/3 ranking: 15
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 4.1
• Number of providers: 10

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Lac qui Parle. (http://tinyurl.com/zc2tfay)
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 16
  House: 16A
• Find your reps

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)

Hennepin County is poised to make the 2022 and 2026 state broadband speed goals.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Hennepin County has the distinct advantage of high population density, which makes for an easier  business case to serve than some of the more rural counties. In 2018, Hennepin County was home to the Superbowl and subsequently received a tech facelift for the US Bank Stadium and increased 5G access for much of the Twin Cities.

Hennepin County has benefited from one MN state grant…

• 2017 – Mediacom Minnesota LLC – Medina 2018 Broadband Build – GRANT $62,219
  Serving 22 underserved households and 12 underserved businesses with service exceeding the 2022 state speed goal of 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up.

While Hennepin County does enjoy great access, like all Minnesota counties, they do struggle with affordability for all users. Some providers approach that with subsidized access and some simply charge lower prices.

Hennepin County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, Mediacom applied to upgrade service in Hennepin. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 4 (down from 3)
• 25/3 ranking: 8
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 784.3
• Number of providers: 17

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Hennepin County. (http://tinyurl.com/z9n7ea6)
• Districts: CD 4, 5 & 6
  Senate: 29, 30, 33, 34, 36, 40, 41, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63
  House:  29A, 30B, 33A, 33B, 34A, 34B, 36A, 36B, 40A, 40B, 41B, 44A, 44B, 45A, 45B, 46A, 46B, 48A, 48B, 49A, 49B, 50A, 50B, 59A, 59B, 60A, 60B, 61A, 61B, 62A, 62B, 63A, 63B
• Find your reps

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)

Dakota is poised to meet the broadband speed goals for both 2022 and 2026. They saw a great increase in access to speeds of 100/20 since the last mapping.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Dakota County has been working for years building a public network that connected government builds with a plan to opening up the network to third party providers. Over the years they have been generous in sharing administration forms and plans to help other communities looking to build better broadband.

They also benefit from being a metro county with higher population density, which makes it easier for a broadband providers to make a business case to offer faster services.

Dakota County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, Charter applied to upgrade service in Dakota. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 7 (up 33 places)
• 25/3 ranking: 11
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 258.9
• Number of providers: 16

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Dakota County. (http://tinyurl.com/hxslue9)
• Districts: CD 2 / 51, 52, 54, 56, 57 & 58
• Find your reps

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)

Cook County is close to meeting the 2022 state speed goals and seemingly on track to meet the 2026 goals. The only concern is that the coverage has not changed in three years. They need a little push.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Cook County suffered for years because all telecommunications depended on a single fiber line.  As late as 2008, dial-up was still the only choice for many residents, businesses and visitors. A grant from Blandin Foundation and a matching contribution from the County, along with additional support from Arrowhead Electric Coop, funded a feasibility study to examine the problem and potential solutions.

Based on the results of the feasibility study, the Cook County Board of Commissioners took up the idea of developing a fiber network for the county’s residents, businesses and government. The Board passed an ordinance in December 2009 declaring that a broadband network was in the best interests of the County and created the Fiber Optic Network Commission. Cook County  formed a partnership with Arrowhead Electric Cooperative, which applied for and was awarded over $16 million in federal stimulus grants and low interest loans to build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network throughout Cook County.

In addition, Cook County awarded Arrowhead Cooperative a $4 million grant from the 1% sales tax fund.

(Cook County was featured in CoBank’s report in the last year Making the Move to Broadband: Rural Electric Co-ops Detail Their Experience.)

Cook County clearly benefits from the community’s early activism,  but  they will still need to  push to reach the 2026 speed goals. Cook County was part of  Blandin Foundation’s Minnesota Intelligent Rural Community Program in 2009 – 2012.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 13 (down 3 places)
• 25/3 ranking: 20
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: .7
• Number of providers: 3

Details:

• See MIRC project matrix for more details on Cook County’s broadband adoption efforts https://blandinfoundation.org/content/uploads/vy/DC_Project_Matrix_Nov_2012.pdf
• Find more articles on broadband in Cook County. (http://tinyurl.com/hgbzlt7)
• Districts: CD 8 / 03
• Find your reps

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)

Big Stone County is on track to meet the MN state speed goals for both 2022 and 2026.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

In 2014, Big Stone benefited from a MN state broadband grant:

• 2014 – Federated Telephone Cooperative, Big Stone County
  Award: $3.92 million. Total project cost: $7.92 million. Impact: Service to 1,072 unserved premises in the communities of Barry, Beardsley and Johnson, and rural parts of Big Stone County

By 2018, the percentages of households with access to  100/20 had gone from 70 percent to almost 99 percent. The county is served primarily by Federated Telephone, which has been expanding deployment of Fiber to the Home (FTTH) across its service territory in that region for years.

One anomaly, the coverage for 25/3 and 100/20 was the same for 2017 and 2018. This year there is a small increase in coverage of 25/3. Now 98.91 percent of Big Stone have access to 100/20 (no change from last year), yet 99.58 percent have access to 25/3. My concern would be that a few households have been upgraded to 25/3 only. Perhaps this is a temporary measure and part of a future anticipated upgrade; if not, down the road those recently upgraded households will have considerably slower broadband than their neighbors, which will impact resale value.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 5 (down 1)
• 25/3 ranking: 6 (up 3)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 4.3
• Number of providers: 7

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Big Stone County. (http://tinyurl.com/zfgwstd)
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects; it includes projects from this area.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 12
  House: 12A
• Find your reps

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)

Beltrami County is poised to meet the MN speed goals for both 2022 and 2026. In fact, they have been celebrating their first place ranking (for access to Gig speeds) since the latest maps came out in summer of 2019.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Beltrami County is lucky enough to be home to Paul Bunyan Communications. a local cooperative that has chosen to upgrade their area to Gigabit speeds. Paul Bunyan also is  active in the community, including by sponsoring tech-intensive events such as  an annual Gigazone Gaming competition, which bring cash prizes and lots of gamers to the area each year.

Last year, Beltrami was included in a Blandin Foundation research  report on the community return on public investment in broadband, noting the following investments have been made in the community:

• $1.4 million to buy and renovate the Historic Mayflower Building into the LaunchPad supported in part by Greater Bemidji, Northwest Minnesota Foundation, USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant and Paul Bunyan Communications
• $32,000 in Broadband Innovation Grants from Blandin Foundation
• Total: $1,432,000

Using formulas devised to measure impact of broadband access, from these investments Beltrami County has the potential to realize:

• A combined household economic benefit of broadband of $38,631,700 annually
• A combined increase in residential real estate value of $102,593,266

Beltrami has not benefited from MN state grants; they have not received grants from the Blandin Foundation. They are an example of a community that benefits from fully invested provider. There are many ingredients that can help a community get better broadband – an invested provider trumps them all – but it takes intentional  community effort – like we’ve seen in Beltrami – to maximize those benefits.

In September 2019, Senator Klobuchar’s staff held a listening session in Beltrami County. In general, people were happy with their broadband, but one of the local providers complained about faulty mapping. Showing some communities as served, as is the case in parts of Baxter, when in fact they are not, is a barrier to seeking public investment to address those needs.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 6 (up 2)
• 25/3 ranking: 7 (down 1)
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 5.5
• Number of providers: 7

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Beltrami County. (http://tinyurl.com/z5yvec6)
• Districts: CD 7 & 8
  Senate: 2, 5
  House: 02A, 05A
• Find your reps

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)