In 2014, less than 57 percent of Pipestone County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with lower speeds back then.) Today 79 percent of the county has access to broadband speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) but only 44 percent have access to the 2026 speed goals of 100/20.

Pipestone is looking into options. They held a meeting in November (2016) to discuss the issue…

Sharon Hanson, Pipestone County administrator, said they not only heard from businesses and agri-businesses like Simplot, but from parents and grandparents who live in the technological ‘black hole,’ from educators and students who find it difficult to participate with online classes, and from home-based businesses that rely upon connectivity.

Now Pipestone is partnering with six counties (Lincoln, Murray, Pipestone, Lyon, Yellow Medicine and Chippewa) to do a regional broadband study to determine the feasibility of bringing broadband service to unserved rural areas in the six counties.  

Pipestone County is in line to receive $644,932 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 810 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements. Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 79.36
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 44.54

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 45.63 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Pipestone County (http://tinyurl.com/zhjm4pe) 
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 22
  House: 22A

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

In 2014, less than 25 percent of Pine County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with lower speeds back then.) Today 40 percent of the county has access to broadband speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and only 37 percent have access to the 2026 speed goals of 100/20.

They are part of the regional effort – the East Central Broadband Initiative. They have had visits from interested politicians (Rep Thissen) in to talk about broadband. The broadband access they have is good,  but with less than half of the county having access it clearly isn’t enough. It would be nice to find a way to extend the coverage they have.

Pine County is in line to receive $3,911,753 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 7769 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements. Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 40.12
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 37.37

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 54.13 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Pine County (http://tinyurl.com/ha8burg)                   
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 11
  House: 11A, 11B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

In 2014, 92 percent of Pennington County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with lower speeds back then.) Coverage is about the same today for broadband speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) unfortunately access for the 2026 speed goals of 100/20 are not being met – less than 10 percent of the county has access that fast.

Help is on the way. Pennington is in line to benefit from two Border to Border grants this year..

• CenturyLink, Thief River Middle Mile – $1.32 million. The project will serve 491 unserved households and 118 unserved businesses in an area from Thief River to Roseau. CenturyLink will provide improved services that will encourage business development and increase access to education and health care in the region. The total eligible project cost is $2.65 million, with $1.3 million local match. [Roseau and Pennington Counties]
• Garden Valley Telephone Co., Rural Thief River Falls East – $2.03 million. The project will serve 330 unserved households, 23 unserved businesses and 2 community anchor institutions in rural Thief River Falls. Garden Valley Telephone will upgrade broadband services that will improve economic and community vitality in the region. The total eligible project cost is $4.2 million, with a $2.2 million local match. [Pennington County]

Back in 2014, we got a unique look into the expense of serving an area like Pennington…

A provider in metropolitan Hennepin County currently pays about $.50 per Megabit to connect to the Internet backbone; the average cost of three providers in rural Pennington County is $15.33 per Megabit to connect to the Internet backbone.

Making the situation more challenging for all providers, there is a great discrepancy in the number of potential customers in Hennepin County versus Pennington County; population density in Hennepin County is 2,081.7/sq. mi and in Pennington County it is 22.6/sq. mi. Median income (2009-2013) also differs: in Hennepin County it is $64,403 and in Pennington County it’s $45,633. For these reasons and more, the business case for offering broadband in Pennington County Falls is far more challenging than in Hennepin County.

Pennington County is in line to receive $553,443 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 1005 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements. Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 91.78
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 9.63

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 38.24 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Pennington County (http://tinyurl.com/hsso6pn)                  
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 01
  House: 01A, 01B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

In 2014, 58 percent of Otter Tail County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with lower speeds back then.) Now 59 percent of Otter Tail has access to broadband speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and less than 2 percent have access to the 2026 speeds of 100/20.

They did benefit from a Border to Border grant in 2014…

Otter Tail Telcom, Stuart Lake. Awarded $105,364 to expand existing infrastructure to bring fiber-to-the-home service to 47 unserved locations, including 46 homes and one business near Stuart Lake, just north of State Highway 210 and east of Fergus Falls (between Clitherall and Vining). Total project costs are $210,729; the remaining $105,365 (50 percent local match) will be provided by Otter Tail Telcom.

Community and Economic Development Impact:Fergus Falls calls itself the “telework capital of Minnesota.” This project will continue the build-out in and around Fergus Falls to make that goal a reality for a growing number of people living, working, and operating and/or starting businesses in the Fergus Falls region.

But apparently the impact hasn’t yet been felt. The local paper recognized the need for improvement in last fall (2016)…

The county has some catching up to do. Currently, Otter Tail is the fourth-worst in the state when it comes to fixed, non-mobile broadband internet service speeds, ranking 84th out of Minnesota’s 87 counties.

And they talked to local providers about the situation…

In an email to the Focus, sources at Arvig said these broadband goals are realistic and possible, but are also “very expensive to accomplish,” and funds allocated by the state to meet the goals “don’t come close to covering the costs of making it a reality.”

Arvig, based in Perham, is one of Otter Tail County’s major broadband providers, serving about one-third of households and businesses throughout the county. Currently, the company is capable of providing broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps to 20 percent of its service area.

Other broadband providers in the county include Charter Communications, Otter Tail Telcom, Park Region Telephone Company and a handful of others.

With inadequate federal and state funding, Arvig said, “constructing the infrastructure required to provide these types of speeds to a relatively sparsely populated area” gets too costly.

What’s more, most customers aren’t asking for these high speeds.

“We pay close attention to what our customers want and we really don’t see much demand for speeds of 100/20 Mbps in Otter Tail County,” according to the Arvig email, “as evidenced by the fact that 70 percent of our customers remain on the lowest speed package available.”

They did receive a Border to Border grant earlier this year; hopefully that will bring them closer to the broadband goals…

Otter Tail Telcom was awarded $517,441 as part of 71 grants issued for Greater Minnesota…

The funding will assist with access to high-speed internet in the Fergus Falls and Battle Lake areas, according to a press release from DEED.

The project in Fergus Falls will provide service to 79 unserved households near Elizabeth and rural Fergus Falls. The total eligible project cost is $558,542, with $279,271 local match.

The Battle Lake project will serve 62 unserved households in the Clitherall and Battle Lake areas. The total eligible project cost is $476,340, with a $238,170 local match.

Fergus Falls (in Otter Tail County) has been very active in promoting telework. They have a telework guidebook for other communities. In 2013, Fergus Falls received National Recognition as Smart Rural Community.

Otter Tail County is in line to receive $1,421,898 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 3305 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements. Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 59.3
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 1.75

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 52.54 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Otter Tail County (http://tinyurl.com/jkqhb9h)                 
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 02, 08
  House: 02B, 08A, 08B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

In 2014, 58 percent of Olmsted County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with lower speeds back then.) Now they are 98 percent covered with speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) but only 34 percent covered at 100/20, the speed goals for 2026.

This puts them in a precarious position. Much of the community may feel well served now but they will feel the pinch as more broadband is required for various applications.

The City of Rochester (in Olmsted County) started looking into community broadband options in the summer of 2016….

The report included a capital investment of about $53 million on the city’s behalf, a cost that would have to be issued in bonds, raising the total investment to near $67 million.

Alcatel-Lucent’s assumptions were also based on the new public utility securing a 30 percent market share of internet customers. While a low-cost and lower service option would see customers pay about $10 per month for broadband internet service, the study showed about 58 percent of customers paying $50 or more per month for service.

Given a 30 percent market share, Alcatel-Lucent projected the utility would be cash-flow positive within about four years, depending on whether phone and cable services were included.

Olmsted County is in line to receive $1,409,915 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 2942 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements. Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 98.75
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 34.00

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 21.12 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Olmsted County (http://tinyurl.com/gmslyhe)
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.

• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 25, 26
  House: 25A, 25B, 26A, 26B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

In 2010, the FCC listed Norman as one of the nine worst served counties in Minnesota. In 2014, 59 percent of Norman County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with slower speeds back then.) That was an improvement brought about largely by benefiting from an ARRA funded project led by Halsted Telephone.

Since 2014, however, they have slipped to 38 percent having access to speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and 20 percent having access to 100/20.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 67
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 52

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 68.85 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Norman County (http://tinyurl.com/zs7nuqj)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 04
  House: 04B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

In 2014, 60 percent of Nobles County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with slower speeds then.) They are currently up to 76 percent of access to speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and 59 percent coverage with speeds of 100/20. So there is progress and it appears that much of that progress is building broadband for the future. They just need to continue on that path.

Good news; Nobles County will benefit from a recent Border to Border broadband grant awarded to Lismore Telephone…

Lismore Cooperative Telephone Co. received a $2.94 million grant to create a hybrid fiber and wireless network that will eventually bring high-speed internet to the entire county. The co-op matched the $2.94 million grant one-to-one, creating a total project cost of $5,889,156.

The project entails square 500 miles in new wireless coverage, distributed through five towers. The co-op will also install over 82 miles of fiber optic cable. Wilmont and Leota will be built out completely with fiber as well as businesses and homes along the fiber transport route.

DEED estimates the project will serve 469 households, 1,060 businesses and six community anchor institutions — such as schools, libraries, medical providers and public safety entities — across Nobles County that currently do not have broadband access.

Unfortunately the Lismore application was challenged by an incumbent provider (Frontier). They said they had plans to serve Bigelow and so that town (after the Office of Broadband Development investigated) was removed from the project. Residents of that town are unhappy.

Nobles County is in line to receive $1,434,091 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 1794 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Nobles County is a Blandin Broadband Community, which means they have been working on broadband expansion and adoption – including a feasibility study, which would have been helpful with the Border to Border application.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 75.69
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 59.25

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 45.56 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Nobles County (http://tinyurl.com/j52xvxu)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 22
  House: 22A, 22B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

In 2014, 91 percent of Nicollet County had access to broadband. (Although broadband was defined at lower speeds in 2014.) Now 86 percent of Nicollet has access to broadband as speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and 54 percent have access to speeds of 100/20 the speed goal for Minnesota in 2016.

So Nicollet is in a precarious position. They are doing alright in terms of broadband access, but their position is slipping as the definition of broadband gets faster.

Nicollet County is also in line to receive $993,522 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 1515 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 86.10
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 54. 54

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 23.33 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Nicollet County (http://tinyurl.com/h3zwpbd)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 19
  House: 19A

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

In 2014, 43 percent of Murray County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with lower speeds in 2014.) Currently 50 percent of the county has access to broadband at speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and 41 percent has access at speeds of 100/20, which is the state speed goal for 2026.

In November 2016, Lincoln, Murray and Pipestone Counties held meetings to talk about broadband. Each county had 15 or more volunteers ready to team with county staff and elected officials on prospective solutions, including investing their own dollars to make expanded broadband possible. In 2017, Murray is partnering with six counties (Lincoln, Murray, Pipestone, Lyon, Yellow Medicine and Chippewa) to do a regional broadband study to determine the feasibility of bringing broadband service to unserved rural areas in the six counties.

So while 50 percent access isn’t heartening, the enthusiasm is!

Murray County is also in line to receive $1,330,429 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 1847 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 50.47
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 41.56

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 53.15 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Murray County (http://tinyurl.com/j9sr5gf)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 22
  House: 22A

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

Mower County was 90 percent served in 2014. Today 95 percent of the county has access to broadband speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and 90 percent have access to speeds of 100/20, which is the 2026 speed goal. The efforts in Mower County seem to be led by county-seat Austin – from Google pitches to the Gig Austin vision for fiber.

The community is still focused on getting better broadband. Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin has been vocal (in 2016) about the need to support underserved and as well as unserved communities with State broadband funding…

District 27 Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, introduced a bill late last week that would make sure cities like Austin and Albert Lea are eligible to receive current and proposed broadband funds after many existing grants and some initial bills this session limited the cities that would qualify. “We also want to make sure that cities like Austin or Albert Lea qualify,” Sparks said. At issue is the state’s Border-to-Border Broadband grants and some state statutes in regards to access to broadband funding across the state. Currently, many of the funding sources target unserved communities but not underserved communities.

And the local paper (Austin Daily Herald) is vocal about wanting more spending…

The House Majority continues to dismiss the need to expand rural broadband, which is especially essential for schools. Of the education budget “savings” we have from last year, a measly $7 million will be dedicated to broadband funding for schools and students in underserved areas of the state. This will create a wider digital divide in Greater Minnesota and force legislators to pick winners and losers when there is an opportunity to provide much needed statewide funding to rural districts.

Mower County is  in line to receive $1,760,503 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 2383 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 94.78
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 90.20

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 38.62 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Mower County (http://tinyurl.com/j9sr5gf)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 27
  House: 27A, 27B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

In 2014, 38 percent of Morrison County had access to broadband (a lower definition of broadband). Currently 74 percent of Morrison has access to broadband at speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up). That’s quite an improvement! Unfortunately only 29 percent have access to broadband at speeds of 100/20, which is the goal for 2026. They need to focus on getting better broadband and expanding to keep up with their good progress.

In 2015, Morrison was part of a Minnesota grant project through CTC (Consolidated Telephone Cooperative), which received $2 million to bring high-speed Internet to 247 unserved and 90 underserved premises in Cass, Crow Wing and Morrison counties. So 66 percent today is a sizable increase.

Good news this year, they were recently awarded Border to Border funds through Benton Cooperative Telephone..

Benton Cooperative Telephone Co., Buckman – $276,230. The project will serve 130 unserved households, 17 unserved businesses and 1 community anchor institution in Buckman and sections of Buckman and Morrill townships in Morrison County. Benton Cooperative will provide services that will improve educational opportunities, telemedicine, telecommuting and business development. The total eligible project cost is $708,287, with a $432,057 local match.

Morrison County is also in line to receive $1,519,359 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 2915 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 74.13
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 28.83

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 41.48 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Morrison County (http://tinyurl.com/hxkk5ur)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 9, 15
  House: 09B, 15B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

Almost half (48 percent) of Mille Lacs county has access to broadband by today’s definition of 25/3 (Mbps down/up); less than a third (29 percent) has access to speeds of 100/20, which is the 2026 Minnesota broadband goal. When I looked in 2014, 44 percent of the county had access (broadband was defined with lower speeds), so not much progress has been made.

The citizens of Mille Lacs County have been working on improving broadband in their area. They have been part of the Blandin on Broadband Communities Central Woodlands project with efforts to increase broadband adoption and use. Their projects have included WiFi in the senior center, computer distribution to low income households through PCs for People and lots of training. They have also worked on a feasibility study. Here are some highlights from the feasibility introduction…

Probably what is most important to understand about the county is how poor the broadband is in the rural areas. The alternatives in those areas are poor or non-existent. And when there are alternatives, like using satellite data or cell phone data, the broadband is expensive and has very small stingy monthly data caps. Since over half of the residents in the county live in these poor broadband areas this is a major problem for the county and one that is going to put you at an economic disadvantage to your neighboring counties as they find broadband solutions. The county is a textbook example of broadband haves and have-nots. You either live in the cities or near the lake and have broadband or else you don’t.

But we found that it would be a financial challenge to build fiber everywhere. It’s not impossible, but there are several factors that make a business plan a challenge here. First is the geography. The river in the middle of the County means that a network has to be built on both the east and west side of the County, which costs more than what we would have expected in looking at the square miles of the County.

Second, we found that the people in most of the cities today have broadband with which they are probably happy. Certainly some of them would love to be on a fiber network, but the question is: can you count on enough of them to make the business plan work? The financial analysis shows that you’d need at least a 46% penetration rate in the cities just to make the business plan reach breakeven, and you’d want to do better than that. If you want to consider fiber everywhere you’d have to conduct a thorough canvass to make sure that enough customers would support fiber.

Third. There was a change in the rural broadband picture since the time that we started the study. These areas today have basically no broadband, or else broadband that is expensive and that suffers from low monthly data caps. These areas are ripe for a broadband solution. But in late August, as we were wrapping up this report, both Frontier and CenturyLink accepted federal money from the FCC’s Connect America Fund to improve the DSL for the rural parts of the county to 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. Even by today’s standards that is not great broadband and it is going to be obsolete almost before it is built. But it might be just good enough so that some rural households might not elect to change to a new network. You need a 62% penetration in the rural areas to justify fiber and that seems like a high hurdle considering these DSL upgrades.

Finally, some parts of the county either already have fiber or will soon get it. Milaca has already been overbuilt with fiber from Milaca Local Link, and the Benton Cooperative Telephone Company is planning to overbuild Bock and the surrounding area with fiber in a few years. If you take Milaca out of the business plan the needed breakeven penetration rate for fiber for everywhere else gets even higher.

In light of the challenges to build fiber in the rural areas we suggest a solution to build a carrier-class point-to-multipoint wireless network just for the rural areas. The biggest issue with doing a point-tomultipoint wireless network is the heavy tree cover and foliage in the county. But there are ways to work around that. We’ve recommended using a new spectrum that the FCC is just about to release in the 3.65 MHz range that carries through trees a little better than the other spectrum available today. Plus we’ve assumed that you would build tall towers and also use telescoping poles at each customer house to enable a direct sight to a tower. This network will deliver speeds up to 30 Mbps download to customers. There is an even better spectrum on the horizon called white space spectrum that the FCC is expected to release that could offer speeds of almost 50 Mbps.
Further, the wireless business plan can spin off significant profits over the years and it looks to us that if it’s operated well you could eventually use the profits from the wireless business to then build fiber in the rural parts of the county. It might take 15–20 years to get fiber everywhere, but it’s a financially and technically viable plan. Customers could get real broadband today with the goal of eventually upgrading to fiber.

Mille Lacs will see some improvement through a recent Border to Border grant awarded to Benton Cooperative Telephone…

Benton Cooperative Telephone Co., Bock – $510,000. This project will serve 337 unserved households, 37 unserved businesses and 1 community anchor institution in Bock and portions of Hayland and Borgholm townships in Mille Lacs County and a portion of South Fork Township in Kanabec County. Benton Cooperative will provide services that will improve educational opportunities, telemedicine, telecommuting and business development. The total eligible project cost is $1.76 million, with a $1.25 million local match.

Mille Lacs County is in line to receive $1,867,463 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 4285 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 47.86
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 47.83

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 48.58 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Mille Lacs County (http://tinyurl.com/h7wcdjj)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 8
  Senate: 15
  House: 15A

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

Meeker County is well served today; 98 percent of the county has access to 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and they have had 98 percent coverage since we last checked in 2014 (although the define of broadband was slower). But they are not as well set up for the future; only 38 percent of the county has access to 100/20, which is the state goal for 2026.

In 2015, Meeker County did benefit from a Border to Border grant…

MVTV Wireless was the recipient of $808,080 to upgrade backhaul capacity between site locations within 20 southwestern Minnesota counties, including Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Meeker, Redwood, Renville, Swift and Yellow Medicine.

The project will improve broadband access and speeds for more than 3,000 farm-based businesses and 6,000 rural residents across nearly 30,000 square miles.

Meeker County is in line to receive $1,768,690 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 3258 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better – 98.58
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better – 38.13

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 47.11 out of 100.

More info:

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

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 18
  House: 18A

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

McLeod County had 98 percent broadband coverage in 2014. They have 98 percent broadband coverage today – at speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up). Unfortunately they only have 56 percent coverage at speeds of 100/20, the state speed goal for 2026. I’m going to include a map of download speeds for McLeod. The dark blue areas have download speeds of 100 Mbps; the green areas are only  10-25 Mbps. Those are the areas that will need to start thinking about broadband speeds and they may already be feeling the need for more as more people work from home and 7 out of 10 teacher assign online homework. That use adds up.

McLeod County is also in line to receive $1,511,085 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 2,479 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 98.58
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 56.92

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 36.66 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in McLeod County (http://tinyurl.com/hx65gqh)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 18
  House: 18A, 18B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!

About half of Martin County has access to broadband at speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and 100/20. It indicates that the broadband available in Martin County is good but only have of the county doesn’t have access. They need to find a way to extend the broadband they have. Unfortunately they have been in that position for a while. In 2014, 59 percent of the county had access to broadband (broadband was defined at a slower speed) not it’s 55 percent.

They were Blandin Broadband Community, a program that helped them work on increasing broadband adoption. Part of the work, included a feasibility study…

Martin County is in a challenging position. The two largest cities – Fairmont and Sherburn, along with the community Granada and its surrounding rural area, are relatively well connected. However, the remaining rural areas and communities throughout the county in some cases have no access to any broadband options at all. The digital divide challenges any provider to build a business case for expanding service offerings in the rural areas.

Incumbent providers have plans to improve some areas of Martin County, but the specifics have not been determined. Since Frontier will be receiving CAF II funding for Martin County, one consideration is a partnership to provide them additional funding for upgrading their networks beyond CAF II requirements and plans. CAF II broadband speed requirements (10/1) are lesser than those of the state grant program.

Similarly, BEVCOMM, operating the Granada Exchange, has share its intent to apply for grant funds to more of less upgrade the remainder of its unserved areas. Any grant application that the County pursues ought to factor in these plans by BEVCOMM so as to coordinate  and avoid any overlapping plans.

Martin County is also in line to receive $1,618,420 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 2076 locations. CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 55.64
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 54.06

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how they ranked:

DDI score of 50.22 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Martin County (http://tinyurl.com/h37zf6l)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 1
  Senate: 23
  House: 23A

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!