Wadena County is in good shape for meeting the state speed goals for both 2022 and 2026. Their numbers are pretty good, they made great strides in the last year, but they will need to build on that momentum to meet the goals.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Wadena has benefited from a state broadband grant:

• 2015 – West Central Telephone Association Hwy 71 Wadena NORTH Expansion Project
  Grant Award: $193,515
  Serving 162 households, 43 businesses, and 3 community anchor institutions in the Wadena area and Highway 71 corridor north of Wadena.

Wadena, as part of the Resilient Region, was part of the Blandin Broadband Communities (BBC). That has brought broadband activities to the area and spurred conversation.

In September 2019, Senator Klobuchar’s staff held a listening session in Wadena County. While Wadena is largely served, we heard from the folks who aren’t. They can’t get online; they can’t even get cell services. It was a reminder that even in counties that are well served, most have some families that are not.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 16 (up from 53)
• 25/3 ranking: 24
• Has worked with Blandin
• Has received a MN Broadband grant
• Household density: 10.5
• Number of providers: 10

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Wadena County (http://tinyurl.com/z7xgkz8)
• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 02, 09
  House: 02B, 09A
• 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)

Scott County is in a position where they could make the MN broadband goals for 2022 and 2026 with concerted effort.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Scott County started in 2007 with a 94-mile fiber-optic ring, At the time it was the largest government-owned high-speed network in the state, and one of the largest in the nation. In 2014, county officials  detailed the advantages of the network…

We (Scott County) saw disparity between cost and access. A T1 in SE Scott was about $5500/years; in NE Scott it was $900/year. This project means we now buy it for about $30/year. Scott County Government now pays $35,000/year less for better broadband now.

Scott County has benefited from one MN broadband grant:

• 2017 – Jaguar Communications – Sand Creek Township Area Broadband Project – GRANT $192,405
  Serving 118 unserved households, 18 unserved businesses, and 3 community anchor institutions in the Sand Creek Township area of Scott County by constructing fiber to the premises.

Scott is a fairly metro county; the market will probably take care of much of the county, but parts of it will take an effort.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 18 (down from 14)
• 25/3 ranking: 17
• Has worked with Blandin
• Has received a MN Broadband grant
• Household density: 122.4
• Number of providers: 10

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Scott County (http://tinyurl.com/gt4afcy)
• Districts: CD 2
  Senate: 20, 55, 56
  House: 20A, 55A, 55B, 56A
• 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)

Rice County could reach the state broadband goals for 2022 and 2026 with a concerted effort. The momentum and growth in the last year is part of optimism of reaching the goals.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

The anomaly in mapping is due to broadband provider Nuvera delving deeper into the DLS stats. So they really did experience an overwhelming upgrade throughout most of the county with broadband.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 28 (up from 74)
• 25/3 ranking: 27
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 43.2
• Number of providers: 12

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Rice County (http://tinyurl.com/jg6q8gs)
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 20, 24
  House: 20B, 24B
• 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)

For all practical purposes, Red Lake County has reached the state’s broadband speed goals for 2022. But they need to work toward the 2026 goal. They have not had to think about broadband for many years, but their current speed of broadband is not futureproof.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 26 (down from 18)
• 25/3 ranking: 1
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 4
• Number of providers: 4

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Red Lake County (http://tinyurl.com/gt8g24c)
• 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)

Pipestone County could meet the broadband speed goals for both 2022 and 2026 with a concerted effort. The numbers aren’t too far from reality; the impact of Vast Broadband may make a big difference. If that impact isn’t great, they will need to work on building partnerships with other providers.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Pipestone County has benefited from two grants:

• 2017 – Woodstock Telephone Company – Pipestone County Wireless – GRANT $363,851
  Serving 135 unserved households, 540 unserved businesses, and 1 unserved community anchor institution in rural Pipestone with service levels to a minimum of 25Mbps download and 3Mbps upload with higher speeds of 75Mbps/25Mbps.
• 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.

In April (2019), Vast Broadband launched Gigabit access in Marshall, Pipestone and Worthington Counties. In September 2019, Woodstock Telephone’s grant-funded network was completed. It will be interesting to see the impact these projects will have on county’s pursuit of Minnesota’s 2026 speed goals.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 35 (down from 22)
• 25/3 ranking: 54
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 8.7
• Number of providers: 6

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Pipestone County (http://tinyurl.com/zhjm4pe)
• 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)

Nobles County is in a precarious position; they could reach broadband speed goals for 2022 and 2026 but it will take a concerted effort. Lismore Telephone is a cooperative in the area that has been active in the community. It looks like their state-funded project in 2016 only targeted speeds of 25/3, though they do offer faster services. If Nobles County can get them (or another provider) to extend services, that will increase their chances of meeting the state speed goals.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Nobles County has benefited from two MN broadband grants:

• 2016 LISMORE COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE NOBLES COUNTY BROADBAND – GRANT: $2,944,578
  Serving 469 unserved households, 1060 unserved businesses, and 6 unserved community anchor institutions across Nobles County with services to 25 Mbps download by 3 Mbps upload via a fixed wireless solution for nearly 1,000 passings, and fiber to obtain gigabit levels for close to 500 passings.
• 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.

As a member of Blandin Foundation’s 2015-2016 Blandin Broadband Community cohort, Nobles County implemented nearly a dozen broadband adoption projects focused on digital inclusion, increasing public access to broadband, and improving the digital literacy skills of the county’s business community. So, they are as community focused on broadband. Late in 2018, SDN Communications partnered with local providers to expand service into Nobles County.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 40 (down from 24)
• 25/3 ranking: 56
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 11
• Number of providers: 13

Details:

• Nobles County has worked with the Blandin Foundation.  This project matrix includes descriptions of their community work. https://blandinfoundation.org/content/uploads/vy/BBC_2015-16_Project_Matrix.pdf
• Nobles County has worked with the Blandin Foundation
• Find more articles on broadband in Nobles County (http://tinyurl.com/j52xvxu)
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 22
  House: 22A, 22B
• 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)

Nicollet County could be poised to meet the broadband speed goals for 2022 and 2026. Although it will take a concerted effort.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Nicollet County has benefited from a 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: 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.

It’s difficult to get a clear picture of Nicollet’s progress toward the speed goals given the dip in 2018 – caused by provider Nuevera going more granular with its DSL data – but it looks like Nicollet is experiencing  momentum toward reaching the state’s speed goals.

Mediacom announced upgrades in 2017. Consolidated Communications announced improvements in 2018. County Commissioners have recognized the need for better broadband. In 2019, RS Fiber  completed construction of a gigabit fiber to the home  networks in ten communities located in Renville, Sibley, McLeod, and Nicollet Counties of west central Minnesota.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 37
• 25/3 ranking: 51
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 26.1
• Number of providers: 12

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Nicollet County (http://tinyurl.com/h3zwpbd)
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 19
  House: 19A
• 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)

Mower County is in danger of not making the speed goals for either 2022 or 2026. It seems as if they may have some momentum going but it’s difficult to tell with mapping anomalies. The recent approval of the Mid Continent Telephone Company (Midco) state grant application will help.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

The numbers for Mower County are skewed, especially for access to 100/20 – in due because mapping in 2017 included fixed wireless access this year includes only wireline. But it makes it difficult to assess growth.

In 2017, Mediacom announced that part of Mower County (Adams, Brownsdale, Le Roy, Lyle, Waltham) are part of its Gigabit upgrade. That may explain some growth.

In Aug 2019, Mid Continent asked Mower County to support their application for a Minnesota Broadband grant to extend/expand broadband in the area. Mower agreed to support it…

With a vote of approval during Tuesday’s county board meeting, Mower County is on a higher-speed trek to gaining rural broadband access to all of its residents.

The Mower County Board unanimously approved a resolution, along with a letter of support for Mid Continent Communication (MIDCO) choosing the county as a project site to receive high-speed internet access for 9,371 places for optical fiber and terrestrial fixed wireless access, in a 5-0 vote.

This is a multi-county application.

Also, Mower will be getting FCC funding over the next 10 years.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 36 (up from 79)
• 25/3 ranking: 45
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 22.2
• Number of providers: 12

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Mower County (http://tinyurl.com/j9sr5gf)
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 27
  House: 27A, 27B
• 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)

Lyon County is not poised to make the MN speed goals for either 2022 or 2026, but they have the potential. They saw a huge increase in access leading in 2018. They need another push.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Lyon County benefited from two state grants:

• 2017 – MVTC (Minnesota Valley Telephone Company, Inc.) – Milroy Broadband Project – GRANT $742,365
  Serving 246 unserved households and 22 unserved businesses in the Milroy Broadband Project located in both Redwood and Lyon Counties with service levels to 1 Gbps down and 1 Gbps up.
• 2017 – Woodstock Telephone Company – Balaton FTTP – GRANT $413,009
  Serving 305 underserved households, 28 underserved businesses, and 6 underserved community anchor institutions in the city of Balaton in Lyon County with service levels to 1 Gbps down and 1 Gbps up.
• 2016 – MIDCO CANBY TO MARSHALL MIDDLE MILE AND LAST MILE – GRANT AMOUNT: $623,000
  Serving unserved households, 29 unserved businesses, and 11 unserved community institutions in and around the towns of Porter, Taunton, Minneota, Ghent, and Canby, between Canby and Marshall in Yellow Medicine and Lyon Counties with service levels up to 200 Mbps down by 20 Mbps 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.

In Spring of 2018, with support from Blandin Foundation, the county released the results of a feasibility study, it determined…

analysis shows that it is not economically feasible to build fiber everywhere in the rural parts of the county using the existing Border-to-Border grant program—the 50% grant matching in that program is not enough to create a sustainable network. However, the hybrid fiber and wireless solutions all look to be economically viable.

In early 2019, the county promoted an app that would help test local broadband speeds. So they continue to be engaged as a county, they just need to persuade providers to meet their needs.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 30 (down from 29)
• 25/3 ranking: 44
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 14.2
• Number of providers: 11

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Lyon County (http://tinyurl.com/hzlzzvs)
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 16, 22
  House: 16A, 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)

Koochiching County will need lots of work and investment to reach the MN state goals for 2022 and 2026. But, Koochiching is in a better position than many counties, both because they have a very active group of community advocates and because they have a willing provider partner interested in working with them.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Koochiching has benefited from one MN state grant:

• 2015 – Midcontinent Little Fork Middle Mile
  Grant award: $277,448
  Midcontinent will build out broadband middle mile infrastructure between Little Fork and International Falls following MN11 to US71 to CR22 to provide state speed goal broadband service and above to 258 passings.

Koochiching has been working with the Blandin foundation on the Iron Range Broadband Communities (IRBC) initiative with the Koochiching Tech Initiative leading the way. They are working with Paul Bunyan Communications on a 2019 broadband grant application, which if funded, could offer services to more than 1,200 locations in Kabetogama, Pelland Junction, Ericsburg and Ray. (That’s about 10 percent of Koochiching’s total population.)

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 46 (down from 28)
• 25/3 ranking: 53
• Has worked with Blandin
• Has received a MN Broadband grant
• Household density: 1.9
• Number of providers: 6

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Koochiching. (http://tinyurl.com/gom8mqy)
• 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)

Kittson County made great strides in improving broadband access after 2017. It seems likely that state broadband grants to Wikstrom Telephone Company helped with the improvement. To meet the state broadband goals for 2022 and 2026, Kittson will need to encourage another big push in that direction.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Kittson is a county of broadband haves and have-nots. Those who have access have good access and the rest are unserved. The good news is that there is at least one provider in the area interested in providing fast internet; they need to encourage expansion or get others to match those speeds.

Kittson has benefited from three state broadband grants:

• 2017 – Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband – GRANT $1,307,785
  Serving 300 unserved homes and 31 unserved business locations in Kittson, Marshall, and Roseau Counties with services levels to 1 Gbps down and up..
• 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 in NW Minnesota with services levels to 1 Gigabit.
• 2014 – Wikstrom Telephone, Kittson, Marshall, Roseau Broadband Extension
  Award: $425,000. Total project cost: $943,827. Impact: Service to 73 unserved and 43 underserved homes in Kittson, Marshall and Roseau counties

And they are getting almost $2 million in FCC funding but that is over the next 10 years.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 43 (down from 30)
• 25/3 ranking: 67
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 1.8
• Number of providers: 14

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Kittson. (https://bit.ly/2kcNnpz)
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects; it includes projects from this area.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 01
  House: 01A
• 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)

Kandiyohi County saw a great leap in broadband access in the last year. They need to do more, and they have had some bad luck, but it seems like they have the right momentum to possibly meet the state speed goals for 2022 and 2026.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

There are a few counties in Minnesota whose broadband stories might make a good opera. Unfortunately, Kandiyohi is one of them. They have been focused on better broadband for years. Kandiyohi was a Blandin Broadband Community, which means they had support building broadband adoption. They have a broadband committee that have spearheaded a feasibility study and encouraged visits from policymakers, such as Lt Governor Tina Smith.

Representative Dave Baker, from the area, has been a champion for better broadband in the legislature.

Kanabec has benefited from state broadband grants:

• 2016 – FRONTIER KANDIYOHI INITIATIVE – GRANT: $1,015,275
  Serving 1147 unserved households, 7 unserved businesses, and 7 unserved community anchor institutions in rural areas within Kandiyohi County, including the Atwater, Kandiyohi, Svea, Prinsburg, Raymond, and Lake Lillian exchanges to improve service levels to a minimum of 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up, meeting the 2022 state speed goal.
• 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.

Then in 2017, Consolidated Telecommunications Co. (CTC) was awarded a $4.94 million grant to improve serves in New London, Spicer and Willmar, and Frontier was awarded a grant of $1.02 million to improve service in rural Kandiyohi County. Unfortunately, the CTC project did not work out.

LTD Broadband worked to fill the gaps. They started building broadcast tower sites across the county summer 2017. And continued the expansion summer 2018.

Kandiyohi isn’t resting. In May 2019, Kandiyohi Commissioner Roger Imdieke was promoting State funding for broadband grants. In June, the County Board voted to help fund an engineering study that will examine the feasibility of bringing broadband to rural homes and businesses in Dovre, Mamre and St. Johns townships. They are partnering with Arvig and may be applying for a 2019 broadband grant.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 47 (up from 86)
• 25/3 ranking: 42
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 19.4
• Number of providers: 14

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Kandiyohi. (http://tinyurl.com/z9wk7bm)
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 17
  House: 17A, 17B
• 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)

Itasca County seems like it might be poised to meet the MN broadband speed goals, but they need a concerted effort. They have several providers in the area and they benefit from being home to the Blandin Foundation, which helps with investment and raising awareness.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Itasca has been working on broadband for many years. They were part of the Blandin Broadband Communities (BBC) initiative before 2014. About the same time, Connect Itasca started surveying residents about broadband.

Itasca has benefited from several MN broadband grants:

• 2017 – Paul Bunyan Communications – North Central Fiber – GRANT $802,620
  Serving 657 unserved households, 29 unserved businesses, and 5 unserved community institutions, and 130 underserved households, 13 underserved businesses, and 1 underserved community institution near the communities of Park Rapids, Bigfork, and Side Lake, MN, to locations in St. Louis, Itasca, and Hubbard Counties with services exceeding the 2026 state and current federal speed goals.
• 2016 MEDIACOM HARRIS TOWNSHIP – GRANT: $224,369
  Serving 262 unserved households and 6 unserved businesses in Harris Township in Itasca County with services at 100 Mbps download by 20 Mbps upload.
• 2016 – PAUL BUNYAN COMMUNICATIONS HUBBARD, BECKER & ITASCA COUNTIES – GRANT: $1,742,232
  Serving 785 unserved households, 26 unserved businesses, 2 unserved community anchor institutions and 143 underserved households and 2 underserved businesses in rural portions of Itasca, Hubbard, and Becker counties. Combined, these areas are home to an estimated 2,750 people and nearly 50 small businesses.
• 2015 – Paul Bunyan Central Itasca County Fiber
  Grant Award: $1,980,000
  Serving 1193 households, 53 businesses and 5 community anchor institutions.

Itasca County is fortunate in that there are several providers in the area that currently offer Gigabit services. They need to work with providers to extend or expand their services.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 27 (down from 23)
• 25/3 ranking: 22
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 6.4
• Number of providers: 10

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Itasca County. (http://tinyurl.com/grujo6t)
• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 5, 6
  House: 5A, 5B, 6A
• 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)

Hubbard County looks likely to meet the 2022 goals and less likely to meet the 2026 goals. They are caught in a situation where they may appear to be in good shape because access to 25/3 is good but they are not on track for the 2026 goal. That  said, they have made good strides in the last year moving from 46 percent to 74 percent access to 100/20. They could do it again.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Hubbard County has benefited from two MN state grants:

• 2017 – Paul Bunyan Communications – North Central Fiber – GRANT $802,620
  Serving includes 657 unserved households, 29 unserved businesses, and 5 unserved community institutions, and 130 underserved households, 13 underserved businesses, and 1 underserved community institution near the communities of Park Rapids, Bigfork, and Side Lake, MN, to locations in St. Louis, Itasca, and Hubbard Counties in northern Minnesota with service exceeding the 2026 state and current federal speed goals.
• 2016 – PAUL BUNYAN COMMUNICATIONS HUBBARD, BECKER & ITASCA COUNTIES – GRANT: $1,742,232
  Serving 785 unserved households, 26 unserved businesses, 2 unserved community anchor institutions and 143 underserved households and 2 underserved businesses in a multi-county region in north central Minnesota with service exceeding the 2026 state speed goal of 100 Mbps by 20 Mbps.

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 45
• 25/3 ranking: 14
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 8.7
• Number of providers: 8

Details:

• Find more articles on broadband in Hubbard County. (http://tinyurl.com/hy7et5e)
• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 02 & 05
  House: 2B, 5A
• 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)

Goodhue County has a way to go to meet the 2022 or 2026 state speed goals. They have good broadband – in that everyone who has access appears to have access to speeds of 100/20 but only 80 percent of the county has access. They need more of what they have.

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved

Red Wing, in Goodhue County, was a 2015-2016 Blandin Broadband Community,  and has done some innovative programming through Red Wing Ignite, a local organization with national ties.

Goodhue has benefited from several MN broadband grants:

• 2017 – Midco (Midcontinent Communications) – Wanamingo – GRANT $768,600
  Serving  597 unserved households, 76 unserved businesses, and 4 unserved community institutions in the City of Wanamingo in Goodhue County in southeastern Minnesota with service levels up to 1 Gbps up and down.
• 2017 – New Ulm Telecom, Inc. – White Rock Rural East FTTP – GRANT $411,704
  Serving 22 unserved households and 88 unserved businesses in the White Rock area in the northern half of Goodhue County in southeastern Minnesota with services to 1 Gbps download and 1 Gbps upload, exceeding the 2026 state speed goal.
• 2016 – NEW ULM TELECOM, INC. GOODHUE-BELLECHESTER – GRANT: $ 332,328
  Serving 15 unserved households, 46 unserved businesses and 25 underserved households, 43 underserved businesses, and 1 underserved community anchor institution in the city limits and surrounding area of Bellechester in Goodhue County in southeastern MN.
• 2015 – New Ulm Telecom Goodhue Fiber Project
  Grant award: $115,934
  Building middle mile and last mile infrastructure in Goodhue County, Goodhue Township, near the city of Goodhue to provide state speed goal broadband service to 24 households, businesses, and community institutions.

Last year, Goodhue was part of Blandin Foundation’s report on the community return on public investment in broadband, noting the following investments have been made in the community:

Using formulas devised to measure impact of broadband access, Goodhue has the potential to realize:

Using formulas devised to measure impact of broadband access, Goodhue has the potential to realize:

• A combined household economic benefit of broadband of $32,774,600

• A combined increase in residential real estate value of $104,825,572 annually

They are doing good things in Red Wing and Goodhue county (such as a recent $750,000 national award for innovation) but they need to reach the areas without broadband to ensure that the whole county benefits.

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

Checklist:

• 100/20 ranking: 50 (down 3 places)
• 25/3 ranking: 59
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 24
• Number of providers: 12

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 Goodhue County. (http://tinyurl.com/z3jwte4)
• Districts: CD 2
  Senate: 21, 58
  House: 21A, 21B, 58B
• 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)