Waseca County News reports…

As part of $52 million in investments made in rural areas across Minnesota, local broadband provider Bevcomm has secured funding to extend high quality broadband to 160 currently unserved or under-served households in rural Waseca County.

Backed by roughly $1.6 million in grant funding distributed by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the project will bring long awaited access to high speed internet to rural areas around Pemberton, Waldorf and New Richland.

Roughly half of the grants awarded in this latest round of funding were provided as grants under DEED’s well known Border to Border Broadband Program. Under the decade-old program, the state covers half the cost of installing broadband infrastructure up to $10 million.

However, Bevcomm was able to secure funding to expand access to broadband infrastructure in Waseca, along with a separate roughly $1.1 million grant to expand broadband infrastructure in Le Sueur County, under the Low Population Density Program.

A pilot program designed to expand access in sparsely populated rural areas, where the cost of expanding access on a per capita basis is particularly high, the Low Population Density Program covers up to 75% of a project’s cost.

The Country Messenger reports…

Thanks to more than 100 letters written by Scandia residents, and the work of Scandia’s Internet Action Committee and City Council, internet connection in the city will be vastly improved for many within the next two years. A recent grant was awarded to the city in the amount of $689,700, which will be matched by the City of Scandia and MidCo for a total project cost of $1,379,400 to help those needing improved internet connection most in the community.

“The need for better Internet service became very important about ten years ago as society became more dependent on the internet as a primary means of communication and connectivity,” said the Internet Action Committee Chair Bob Wilmers.  “The committee determined the best way to address the issue was to work with an existing Internet provider to expand their service footprint beyond the center of town and to reach all the residents of Scandia. By partnering with MidCo, utilizing state, federal and county funding, and the city’s own financial support we were able to bring high speed internet to the rest of the community through a series of grants starting in 2020.”

The city’s most recent grant is part of a $52 million grant from the Department of Employment and Economic Development’s (DEED) Office of Broadband Development. The grant was awarded on Oct. 9 and is estimated to help 7,700 homes and businesses across Minnesota receive improved internet connection, many of which are in Scandia.

“The most recent grant was acquired like previous grants,” said Wilmers. “The Internet Action Committee made a recommendation to the city council that local funds be made available so MidCo could apply for a Broadband Development Grant from the State of Minnesota. This grant program requires the financial participation of the local community along with the internet provider and local support from citizens in the form of letters describing the need for better service.

St Cloud Live reports…

Minnesota’s Border-to-Border Broadband Development grant program gave Stearns County another $1.25 million to support expansion projects in Paynesville Township and the Wakefield and Luxemburg areas, according to a county media release.

The combined cost of the expansion projects is $2.8 million, according to the county.

Stearns County has received $21.3 million in Border-to-Border Grants and $16.7 million in County and Township American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds, according to the release. The county said the grants incentivized more than $60 million in broadband infrastructure investments.

The grants from the state will help bring high-speed internet access to most parts of Stearns County.

Lakes Area Radio reports…

Otter Tail Telcom (Park Region) is expanding its fiber broadband network in Otter Tail County, providing high-speed internet access to 286 homes and businesses in six townships near Fergus Falls. This project is part of the MN DEED low-density program, which aims to address the lack of reliable internet in rural areas. Otter Tail County Board Chair Kurt Mortenson emphasized the importance of broadband as a key infrastructure for economic competitiveness, education, and healthcare.

The expansion is supported by partnerships between local governments, residents, and the state’s Office of Broadband Development. Townships included in the project are Aastad, Buse, Carlisle, Orwell, Oscar, and Western. This initiative is expected to boost local businesses, attract new residents, and enhance connectivity for telecommuters and students.

Park Region’s CEO, Dave Bickett, and Senator Jordan Rasmusson praised the collaboration, recognizing the significant challenges of extending broadband to rural areas but highlighting the transformative impact on the community’s growth and innovation.

This initiative is part of a broader effort by MN DEED to bridge the digital divide in Minnesota, with over $400 million invested in broadband infrastructure across the state through grants.

KNSI radio reports…

Stearns County is getting the last piece it needs to wire its rural residents with high-speed internet.

The county has received $1.25 million in grants through the Minnesota Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program, which is run by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. The program aims to expand fiber internet infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas.

The cash will connect people in Paynesville Township, Wakefield and Luxemburg to the World Wide Web. Officials say the announcement marks the final push needed to bring high-speed internet access to nearly all parts of Stearns County.

“High-speed internet has become a necessity. It is an accelerator of opportunity and is necessary for education, home businesses, farm equipment, entertainment, health care, home security, smart homes, communications, and more. In many ways, the future economic vitality of our county depends on access to high-speed internet,” said Stearns County Administrator Mike Williams.

According to a press release, Stearns County has received $21.3 million in Border-to-Border Grants and $16.7 million in County and Township American Rescue Plan funds to connect the community.

KIMT reports…

KMTelecom says it is getting a $515,564 state grant to expand broadband access in southeastern Minnesota.

The company says the project will bring 13 miles of fiber-optic cable, capable of synchronous broadband speeds of up to 1GB, to approximately 83 homes and businesses in Genoa, Douglas, and surrounding rural areas.  KMTelecom says it is matching the state grant to pay for the project’s completion.

The money is part of a total of $25 million recently announced by Governor Tim Walz to fund 18 broadband infrastructure projects across Minnesota. …

KMTelecom says “We are grateful to DEED, OBD, and the residents and businesses in the project area for their support in securing this grant. We look forward to improving broadband access and creating new opportunities for our rural communities.”

The KMTelecom project is scheduled to be completed by December 31, 2026.

I wrote about all of the MN State grants last week, here’s a follow up from Paul Bunyan Communcation with greater detail om their project…

Paul Bunyan Communications has been awarded a $3.9 million State of Minnesota Border-to-Border Broadband Low-Population Density Grant to serve areas of Alango, Field, and Sturgeon Townships in St Louis County.
The Low-Population Density Program will fund up to 75% of eligible project costs to help providers build out broadband infrastructure in some of the more remote or costly-to-serve areas of the state with the cooperative investing the remainder to expand its all-fiber optic network to these areas.
The Alango, Field, and Sturgeon Townships are west and southwest of the city of Cook. This project will include a total of 420 locations with a total cost of $6,023,265. Funders in addition to the State of Minnesota include St. Louis County Broadband Infrastructure- $400,000, IRRRB Broadband Infrastructure-$400,000, Alango Township-$41,200, Field Township-$17,800,
Sturgeon Township-$40,000, and Paul Bunyan Communications-$1,200,108.
“We are thrilled to continue our expansion efforts, bringing high-speed broadband access to underserved areas in our region. While our cooperative has a strong history of expanding our network to underserved communities, it has become more challenging to do so independently without grant assistance due to the costs involved and low density of population in these rural areas. Thanks to the Low Population Density Grant program, we will now be able to extend our services to these areas, providing broadband speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second and making them part of one of the largest rural Gigabit networks in the nation,” said Chad Bullock, Paul Bunyan Communications incoming CEO/General Manager.
Paul Bunyan Communications expects to develop the expansion plans over the next year and will contact locations along the upcoming expansion routes once those plans are finalized and before construction starts.
“We are excited to receive this grant! It will bring symmetrical fiber-optic broadband to highly rural areas that are in critical need of it. This will be a game changer for these residents and businesses,” said Leo Anderson, Chief Technology Officer of Paul Bunyan. “We are grateful to the State of Minnesota for launching this low-density pilot grant program, which makes this expansion possible. We also extend our thanks to St. Louis County, the IRRRB, the impacted townships for their financial support, and our state officials who have championed funding for the Border-to-Border broadband grant program.”
Cooperative’s services will become available once the network is operational including GigaZone™, service options like unprecedented Broadband Internet speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second and low cost unlimited local and long distance GigaZone™ voice service. There is no membership fee to join Paul Bunyan Communications, membership is included by subscribing to either local phone service or GigaZone™ Internet service.

Telecompetitor reports…

This week, Minnesota announced $52 million in grants to expand broadband throughout the state, with the majority of awards going to small telecom providers.

The largest grant — just over $8 million — went to the Federated Rural Electric Association. East Central Energy received two grants totaling nearly $6.9 million.

Other awards included Garden Valley Telephone Company, $4.6 million; Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative, $3.9 million; Otter Tail Telcom, $3.7 million; MiEnergy Cooperative, $3.16 million; Woodstock Telephone Company $2.91 million; Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association $2.89 million; Ace Telephone Association $2.57 million; Bevcomm Inc. $2.3 million; Consolidated Telephone Company $2.13 million; Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company $1.78 million; Runestone Telecom Association $1.54 million; and Benton Cooperative Telephone Company $1.25 million.