Mahnomen County is not poised to meet the speed goals for 2022 or 2026. They are near the bottom of the list and without a concerted effort they will not come close.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Mahnomen has decent coverage for 25/3 access, which may leave residents to think that they are not in need of improvement, but they are not in line to meet the 2026 goals.

They have benefited from one MN broadband grant:

• 2017 – Garden Valley Telephone Company – Bejou – GRANT $1,304,421
  Serving 214 unserved households, 17 unserved businesses, and 7 unserved community anchor institutions in Bejou and surrounding rural areas within Mahnomen County, including portions of the White Earth Reservation with service levels to 1 Gbps down and 1 Gbps up.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 86
• 25/3 ranking: 34
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 3.5
• Number of providers: 9

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in McLeod County (https://bit.ly/2kgeboX)
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 18
  House: 18A, 18B
• 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)

Lincoln County is currently not poised to meet the state speed goals for either 2012 or 2016. But they have  momentum that began last fall and has spurred a relationship with a local provider that may increase their odds, especially if they are able to get a MN broadband grant.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Lincoln has benefited from two state 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 – Interstate Telecommunications Cooperative (ITC), Hendricks Town FTTP
  Award: $700,000. Total project cost: $1.87 million. Impact: Service to 377 homes and farms, 57 businesses and eight community institutions, all currently underserved.

With help from the Blandin Foundation, Lincoln released a feasibility study in 2018. The report discusses next steps for the county, such as looking for a partner to bring broadband to those areas without it today.

In spring of 2019, Lincoln County Board gave a green light to a county-wide grant application aimed at funding for broadband Internet access. They approved a grant application to the state’s broadband grant fund for a total of $10.5 million. All except $2 million would come from outside funding sources. The county would issue bonds for its matching share.

Early in 2019, Woodstock Communications announced plans to deploy fiber in the city of Tyler during the course of  the year.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 76
• 25/3 ranking: 83
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 4.7
• Number of providers: 7

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Lincoln County (http://tinyurl.com/jxqwlab)
• Districts: CD 7
  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)

Looking at the numbers, Le Sueur is not poised to meet the state broadband speed goals for 2022 or 2026. But looking at recent activity in the county, I’m tempted to bump them up to code yellow, or maybe create a code orange.

They are moving forward with a plan and a local provider to apply for a MN broadband grant. If they get that grant, they will be well poised to meet the goals.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Le Sueur benefited from one state grant:

• 2016 – ECKLES TELEPHONE COMPANY (DBA BEVCOMM) RURAL HEIDELBERG– GRANT:  $188,000
  Serving 51 unserved households, 7 unserved businesses, 40 underserved households, and 4 underserved businesses in the rural Heidelberg area in Le Sueur County with service levels to 1 Gigabit.

In summer 2018, Le Sueur hosted a broadband conference that spurred a chain reaction. They got local policymakers interested in broadband, and they got an opportunity to workshop a broadband plan at Blandin Foundation’s annual broadband conference. That led to feasibility study in 2019 that in turn developed into  a relationship with Bevcomm and collaboration on a MN state broadband application; the County Commissioners have committed funds to support the application.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 52
• 25/3 ranking: 58
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 22.7
• Number of providers: 13

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Le Sueur County (http://tinyurl.com/jbg7ghy)
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 19, 20, 23
  House: 19A, 20A, 20B, 23B
• 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 of the Woods is not poised to meet the state broadband goals for 2022 or 2026. But in 2018 they went from literally zero to almost 60. So they could rally.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Lake of the Woods is about as north as you can get in Minnesota. It’s remote and there are only four providers in the area.

Lake of the Woods benefited from two state grants:

• 2016 – SJOBERG’S INC. ROSEAU AND LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTIES — GRANT: $354,740
  Serving 126 unserved households, 30 unserved businesses and 1 community anchor institution in several areas in Roseau and Lake of the Woods Counties with services up to 1 Gigabit service.
• 2016 – WIKSTROM TELEPHONE COMPANY WIKTEL NW MN – GRANT: $950,823
  Serving 236 unserved households and 26 unserved business in rural sparsely populated areas in Kittson, Marshall, Roseau, and Lake of the Woods counties to improve unserved levels to 1 Gigabit speed.

The impact of the grants is apparent in the table above. They need more of the same. Right now they are a county of haves and have-nots, with some residents having good broadband and the rest having nothing.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 65
• 25/3 ranking: 86
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 1
• Number of providers: 4

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Lake of the Woods County (http://tinyurl.com/gpfu7dd)
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 02
  House: 02A
• 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)

Kanabec County is not on track to meet state broadband speed goals for either 2022 or 2026. They are at the bottom of the ranking and limited progress has been made in the last few years.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Kanabec County has worked with the Blandin Foundation. The Kanabec Broadband Initiative has been working on better broadband for years and Kanabec County has been part of the East Central Regional Broadband Group. They are aware of the need in their area.

East Central, just north of the Twin Cities, is an area that is largely served by one large national provider, as the map below indicates. That lack of competition has been a roadblock.

Kanabec did benefit from a state broadband grant:

• 2016 – BENTON COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE COMPANY BOCK – GRANT: $510,000
  Serving 337 unserved households, 37 unserved businesses and 1 community anchor institution in the city of Bock and portions of Hayland and Borgholm Townships in Mille Lacs County and a portion of South Fork Township in Kanabec County with services to 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, reaching the 2026.

At the end of 2017, CenturyLink announced upgrades in Kanabec County using CAF 2 funding…

Rural residents who have struggled to find ways to access the internet from their homes may be in luck as Century Link is expanding services to include an additional 1,400 homes in the Braham area, and 3,000 homes in the Mora area.

But these is some concern that the upgrades will not be sufficient…

“This is a step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go,” said Doyle Jelsing of the Kanabec Broadband Initiative. “We welcome the improvement, however, time will work against us as the need for broadband increases.”

Assuming the CenturyLink project happened sometime in 2018, and again looking at the table above, it looks like it hasn’t improved countywide progress towards the 2022 or 2026 speed goals and that speaks to drawbacks of CAF II funding.

In 2018, a Blandin Foundation report looked at the impact of Federal CAF II funding in two towns in Chisago, Isanti and Kanabec Counties: Lindstrom and Braham. CAF II money went to qualifying providers (including CenturyLink) subsidize network deployments that can deliver service of at least 10/1. The study found that while some areas were upgraded beyond that speed; some remain at speeds that do not meet the 2022 nor 2026 MN broadband goals.

In September 2019, Senator Klobuchar’s staff held a listening session in Kanabec County. They heard from Marc Johnson, with the East Central Minnesota Education Cable Cooperative(ECMECC), who spoken about the insufficiency of  CAF II-funded network  speeds of 25/3.. Residents also spoke about their worry that as healthcare moves online,  older residents won’t have access to the  services they need.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 84 (down from 67)
• 25/3 ranking: 79
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 12
• Number of providers: 7

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Kanabec County. (http://tinyurl.com/gvyes6n)
• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 11, 15
  House: 11B, 15A
• 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)

Jackson County is unlikely to meet the speed goals for either 2022 or 2026. The percentage unserved is great and there has been no momentum for improvement in years.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Jackson County benefited from a MN state broadband grant:

• 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 including 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.

While any upgrade is good, Jackson did not see much of an increase to access after the state-funded project. In fact, Jackson County has been hovering at about 69 percent 100/20 coverage for at least three years now. In 2010, Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services (SMBS) received ARRA funds to deploy fiber to the home in Jackson and other counties; they began serving homes in December 2011 and starting research wireless options for outskirt areas at about the same time. Through SMBS, Jackso County was  also  part of the Blandin Broadband Communities  initiative in 2015-2016..

Not much has happened since then. Looking at the map you can see fiber appearing like a highway through the county, with few feeder streets. They need another concerted effort to expand or upgrade connections throughout the county.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 55 (down from 33)
• 25/3 ranking: 76
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yea
• Household density: 6.1
• Number of providers: 14

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Jackson County. (http://tinyurl.com/h3vyqx9)
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects; it includes projects from this area.
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 22 & 23
  House: 22B, 23A
• 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)

Isanti County is not poised to meet MN state speed goals for either 2022 or 2026. They seem to have a decreased in access from 2018 to 2019, which may be an err or a correction from the previous round of mapping. Either way, they are not poised to meet the state’s speed goals.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

For years and Isanti County has been part of the East Central Regional Broadband Group just north of the Twin Cities. It is an area that is largely served by one large national provider, as the map below indicates. That lack of competition has been a roadblock, further exacerbated by consequences of federal CAF II funding.

In 2018, a Blandin Foundation report looked at the impact of Federal CAF II funding in two towns in Chisago, Isanti and Kanabec Counties: Lindstrom and Braham. CAF II money went to qualifying providers to subsidize network deployments that can deliver service of at least 10/1. The study found that while some areas were upgraded beyond that speed; some remain at speeds that do not meet the 2022 nor 2026 MN broadband goals.

In 2018, Isanti County, with Blandin Foundation support, surveyed residents about their experience with broadband…

• Eighty-eight percent of residents say they need better Internet-data service, 92 percent said Internet access is very important and 1 percent said it is not important.
• Eighty-three percent of businesses say they need better Internet-data service and 95 percent said the Internet is essential to their business.
• Sixty-six percent of businesses said limited Internet access at employees’ residences impacts their business.
• Twenty-four percent of businesses said Internet service options impact their business’ decision to relocate or stay in the county.

Clearly the community feels the need for better broadband. Perhaps they can use the survey results to encourage a provider to move in with a plan for improvement.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 72 (down from 45)
• 25/3 ranking: 70
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 30.9
• Number of providers: 6

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Isanti County. (http://tinyurl.com/gozt2ka)
• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 31 & 32
  House: 31A, 32A
• 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)