The historical numbers for Freeborn County are unreliable. The numbers from 2017 reflect wireless connections and the more recent don’t but the difference seems to reflect more than that. It is clear that they will need a concerted effort to meet the 2022 and 2026 goals.
Percentage of Served Population by Speed and Date | |||
Freeborn | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
100/20 (2026 goal) | 83.88 | 34.18 | 94.59 |
25/3 (2022 goal) | 87.92 | 84.31 | 99.44 |

Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved
Freeborn has benefited from three MN broadband grants:
- 2017 – BEVCOMM (Cannon Valley Telephone) – Freeborn Southwest Rural Final – GRANT $122,460
Serving 15 unserved households and 17 unserved businesses in the rural Freeborn area, in Freeborn County, completing a Border-to-Border grant build begun there two years ago.. - 2016 – CANNON VALLEY TELECOM, INC. (DBA BEVCOMM) RURAL FREEBORN – GRANT: $150,700
Serving 10 unserved households, 6 unserved businesses, 9 underserved households, and 6 underserved businesses in the rural Freeborn area in Freeborn County in Southern Minnesota with access of 1 Gigabit per second up and down, exceeding the 2026 state speed goal. - 2015 – BEVCOMM Cannon Valley Telecom – Rural Freeborn Fiber-to-the-Premises Project
Grant award: $149,625
Serving 43 households and 1 business in the rural Freeborn area, in Freeborn County in south-central Minnesota, close to the Minnesota/Iowa border.
Freeborn is also getting almost $2 million in FCC funding but that is over the next 10 years.
Checklist:
- 100/20 ranking: 25 (up from 71)
- 25/3 ranking: 39
- Has worked with Blandin: no
- Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
- Household density: 18.2
- Number of providers: 12
Details:
- Find more articles on broadband in Freeborn County. (http://tinyurl.com/hw7ptnz)
- 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)