Rank: 46
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Marshall County: incremental improvements fueled by MN grants

Marshall County has seen consistent, incremental improvements in broadband coverage, and they have benefited grants almost every year grants were available. That trend has continued this year.

County will benefit from a  MN State Grant awarded in 2021:

• Garden Valley Technologies – Northwest Thief River Falls and Euclid – GRANT $1,640,722 This middle and last mile project will serve 104 unserved and 22 underserved locations in portions of Marshall and Polk counties.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Benton is $7,930,170; broadband is one possible use.

Marshall has engaged providers. They have a history of consistent improvement. If they have an opportunity to invest federal funding into broadband; they are code yellow.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• 2017 – Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband – GRANT $1,307,785
• 2016 – GARDEN VALLEY TELEPHONE COMPANY RURAL THIEF RIVER FALLS EAST – GRANT: $2,027,035
• 2016 – WIKSTROM TELEPHONE COMPANY (WITH BEAMCO, INC.) RURAL ALVARADO – GRANT: $43,481
• 2016 – WIKSTROM TELEPHONE COMPANY WIKTEL NW MN – GRANT: $950,823
• 2014 – Wikstrom Telephone, Kittson, Marshall, Roseau Broadband Extension – Award $425,000
• Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband Project – GRANT $1,151,526

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Marshall County (http://tinyurl.com/zamfwj3)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 46 (up 15)
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 2.04

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 62
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Mahnomen: Steady growth increases access

Mahnomen County saw a huge increase in access from 17 percent to 57 percent in 2020. They saw another increase to 72 percent this last year. Unfortunately, their ranking decreased but that’s because other counties did better, not because they were stagnant.

They have an engaged provider but with such a low population density, it’s difficult to make a business case to serve 3.5 households per square mile. Also, Mahnomen was found to be one of the top 10 MN counties for highest digital equity needs, based on access to broadband, digital training and accommodations to increase access during COVID. Almost 13 percent of households report that a smartphone is their only access to broadband.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Mahnomen is $1,071,928; broadband is one possible use. It would help hugely if they allocated some of the money for broadband infrastructure and some for access to address the digital inequity.

They potential is there and they are on a steady page forward; they are upgraded to a code yellow.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grant:

• 2017 – Garden Valley Telephone Company – Bejou – GRANT $1,304,421

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in McLeod County (https://bit.ly/2kgeboX)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 62 (down 9)
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 3.10

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 38
Code:
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Lyon County: Incremental upgrades

In 2017, Lyon County went from zero to more than 70 percent broadband coverage at speeds of 100/20 Mbps. A feasibility study in 2018 indicated that it was too expensive to build Fiber to the Home (FTTH) even with the help of a Border to Border grant.

But they have seen an incremental increase in the last year and a recent state broadband grant sets them up for more.

Lyon County will benefit from a  MN State Grant awarded in 2021:

• Woodstock Telephone Company – Lynd FTTP – GRANT $325,548 (Lyon County) – This middle and last mile project will serve 203 underserved households, three underserved businesses and three underserved anchor institutions in the City of Lynd in Lyon County.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Lyon is $4,940,525; broadband is one possible use. Allocating some of those funds would help; there’s no indication one way or another for that happening therefore they remain a code red community.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• 2017 – MVTC (Minnesota Valley Telephone Company, Inc.) – Milroy Broadband Project – GRANT $742,365
• 2017 – Woodstock Telephone Company – Balaton FTTP – GRANT $413,009
• 2016 – MIDCO CANBY TO MARSHALL MIDDLE MILE AND LAST MILE – GRANT AMOUNT: $623,000
• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile – Grant award: $808,080

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Lyon County (http://tinyurl.com/hzlzzvs)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 38 (down )
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 13.96

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 7
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Lincoln County: Most improved award goes to…

Lincoln County has been active in trying to get better broadband for years; there was a renewed interest going back to 2016. With help from the Blandin Foundation, Lincoln released a feasibility study in 2018, which indicated Fiber to the Premise would cost $8.5 million in eastern Lincoln County. The community was able to go to the provider (ITC) with the budget and (maybe more importantly) maps. The plan included an overbuild of some Frontier areas but did not include Tyler and Ivanhoe. ITC said they were able to $2.5 million and looked at CAF reverse auction. That left the community with $6 million to meet the need. They applied for a Minnesota state grant; they found a way to include Tyler and Ivanhoe, which brought the project to $10 million. Unfortunately, they did not get the funding.

The county decided to move ahead on their own. They are trying to bond for $5 million. The area is fortunate that they have seen expansion in wind industry, which has led to production tax, which could be used for a special project such as broadband.

Lincoln went from code red to code green in one year!

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile – Grant award: $808,080
• 2014 – Interstate Telecommunications Cooperative (ITC), Hendricks Town FTTP – Award: $700,000.

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Lincoln County (http://tinyurl.com/jxqwlab)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 7 (up 76)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 4.10

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 55
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Le Sueur County: When Federal Funding gets in the way

Le Sueur started focusing on broadband in earnest in 2018. They started with a community event. Then they started working with the Blandin Foundation. In 2020, they became a Blandin Broadband Community.

They worked hard on promoting broadband use, getting good mapping in their community and getting a partner to apply for a State Broadband grant. Excitement was high until news came out with federal RDOF awards. LTD Broadband was awarded the opportunity to submit a long form to get federal funding to deploy FTTH throughout much of Minnesota, including parts of Le Sueur County.

The potential RDOF funding meant Le Sueur’s state grant application was no longer eligible. The folks in Le Sueur are frustrated. Many communities feel like they are in limbo and it doesn’t help that LTD has applied to deploy fiber but their experience is wireless.

They are in a limbo but they are not stuck. They were able to quickly turn around CARES Act funding to improve broadband. And they continue to work on learning more about working with and/or around LTD. Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Le Sueur is $5,602,456; broadband is one possible use. And they are poised to consider that, as their CARES investment indicates.

Le Sueur is featured in a report from the Institute for Local Self Reliance. They are experiencing barriers but they are persistent. They are a code yellow but that would upgrade to green quickly depending on what happens with RDOF.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• 2016 – ECKLES TELEPHONE COMPANY (DBA BEVCOMM) RURAL HEIDELBERG– GRANT:  $188,000
• BEVCOMM (Eckles Telephone Company) – Le Sueur County Project – GRANT $1,857,376

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Le Sueur County (http://tinyurl.com/jbg7ghy)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 55 (down 1)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 24.08

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 55
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Lake of the Woods County: Big leap in last year

Lake of the Woods has been working on broadband for several years. They have received Border to Border grants. They were a Blandin Broadband Community. In 2019, Wikstrom Telephone received a Border to Border award and it seems like that is making a difference. Their percentage covered increased by 20 percent this year.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Lake of the Woods is $725,350; broadband is one possible use. That may help. Perhaps they could build on the momentum and use that money to invest in better broadband.

Due to their recent increase and the opportunity to invest, Lake of the Woods is not a code yellow community.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• 2016 – SJOBERG’S INC. ROSEAU AND LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTIES — GRANT: $354,740
• 2016 – WIKSTROM TELEPHONE COMPANY WIKTEL NW MN – GRANT: $950,823
• 2019: Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband Project – GRANT $1,151,526
  Checklist:
• Find more articles on broadband in Lake of the Woods County (http://tinyurl.com/gpfu7dd)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 55 (up 17)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 1

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 19
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Lake County: ARRA award may have been bumpy, but they are well served

Lake County received an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) award in 2010 to build Fiber to the Home (FTTH). That grant came with a lot of bumps in the road, but now more than 90 percent of the very remote county has access to 100/20 Mbps broadband. It started as a public network; it’s now privately owned but people are well served.

The full Lake County story if feature in a report from the Institute for Local Self Reliance. It is a David versus Goliath tale. The report points out that educating the community helped build support and make the network happen. Lake County was a Minnesota Intelligent Rural Community (MIRC) participant through the Blandin Foundation, a program that promoted better broadband use; that helped build momentum.

Lake County needs a push to get to ubiquitous broadband. Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Lake is $2,063,756; broadband is one possible use. That could help. Cable and wireless provider Zito Media is deploying near Fall Lake Township. Maybe they will extend or that will build momentum. Because of their action, Lake County remains a code green.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• In 2010, Lake County received an ARRA award of $66.3 million to improve broadband access in their area; about $10 million of the award was an outright grant; the rest was a low-interest loan. There were bumps along the road to getting fiber to the community but now they are well served.

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Lake County (http://tinyurl.com/j7pu3le)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 19 (down 4)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 1.93

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 3
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

La Qui Parle County: top ranked and getting better

Lac qui Parle (LqP) County received an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) award in 2010 that brought Fiber to the Home (FTTH) to most of the county. They have been well served since then and are able to make improvements.

Initially Madison, the county seat was not included in the original network, because at the time it was too well served to receive federal funding. The provider covering Madison has caught up.

As a report from the Institute for Local Self Reliance pointed out, Farmers Mutual Telephone Cooperative operates 1,300 miles of fiber with a take rate of 55 percent across its service area. The network frequently hears from residents that the service has become central to their lives, wellbeing, and ability to conduct business.

LqP is clearly code green.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• 2009, Blandin Foundation funded a feasibility study for LqP County and Farmers Telephone Cooperative. The feasibility study’s engineering, operational, and market development plans were later used to support the partners’ successful ARRA funding
• 2010 The county and Farmers were awarded a $9.6 million ARRA award
• 2017 – Farmers Mutual Telephone – City of Watson and SW Lac qui Parle County FTTP – GRANT $760,501
• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile – Grant award: $808,080

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Lac qui Parle. (http://tinyurl.com/zc2tfay)
• 100/20 ranking: 3 (same)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 3.42

Details:

• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 16
  House: 16A
• 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)

Rank: 59
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Koochiching County: incremental increases

Koochiching County has been working on getting better broadband for a while. They are well organized and engaged through Koochiching Technology Initiative (KTI); they have been a Blandin Broadband Community working on promoting better broadband use with other Arrowhead Regional leaders.

Midco activated more than 200 additional miles of fiber to create a Northern Minnesota fiber ring that adds diverse network paths for both Ely and International Falls. That will help Koochiching County.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Benton is $7,930,170; broadband is one possible use.

Koochiching has been working on broadband. They have learned a lot about options working with the Blandin Foundation. The have the potential of an influx of funding; they just need to influence that impact on broadband. For now, they remain in code yellow.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants

• 2015 – Midcontinent Little Fork Middle Mile – Grant award: $277,448
• Paul Bunyan Communications – North Central Minnesota Fiber Project– GRANT $2,562,916

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Koochiching. (http://tinyurl.com/gom8mqy)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 60 (down from 1)
• Has worked with Blandin
• Has received a MN Broadband grant
• Household density: 1.57

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 42
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Kittson County: incremental increases continue

Kittson County has seen small increases in access over the last three years. But they will benefit from a few MN State Grants awarded in 2021:

• Wikstrom Telephone Co. Inc. – Wiktel NW MN Broadband 2020 – GRANT $490,997 The last mile project will serve 153 unserved locations in sparsely populated areas in Kittson, Marshal and Polk counties.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Benton is $7,930,170; broadband is one possible use.

There is the potential for an influx of funding for broadband. It could be an opportunity for Kittson to get to ubiquitous broadband. For now they stay at code yellow – and without the grant from Wikstrom they might have gone to red.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• 2017 – Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband – GRANT $1,307,785
• 2016 – WIKSTROM TELEPHONE COMPANY WIKTEL NW MN – GRANT: $950,823
• 2014 – Wikstrom Telephone, Kittson, Marshall, Roseau Broadband Extension – Award $425,000
• 2019 Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband Project – GRANT $1,151,526

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Kittson. (https://bit.ly/2kcNnpz)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 42 (down 7)
• Has worked with Blandin: no
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 1.52

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 53
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Kandiyohi County: they persist

Kandiyohi County has been working on better broadband for years. They saw a big improvement in 2019, but have been stagnant since. They came close to getting better broadband with CTC and a grant but that didn’t work out in the end.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Benton is $7,930,170; broadband is one possible use. They have already elected to use some in Prinsburg.

The influx of funding is an opportunity for Kandiyohi to really invest; the question is whether they can convince the whole community to buy in. For now, they remain code yellow.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past Grants:

• 2016 – FRONTIER KANDIYOHI INITIATIVE – GRANT: $1,015,275
• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile – Grant award: $808,080
• 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.

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Kandiyohi. (http://tinyurl.com/z9wk7bm)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 53 (down 5)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 20.65

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 87
Code: Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Kanabec County: ranking last due to barriers

In October I was in a meeting with folks from Kanabec County and just last month in the MN Broadband Task Force, because they are constantly working on better broadband. As someone said, sometimes it’s been to be lucky than good. They are living that. A team from Kanabec has been working with the Blandin Accelerate program, which has been helping them learn and act for better broadband.

Much of the County is served by one large national provider. That may be a bottleneck to better access in those areas, because as we have noted in the past, lack of competition can impact the drive for improvement.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Kanabec is $3,168,461; broadband is one possible use.

The community of Kandiyohi deserves better than code red. Their situation is outside of their control in many ways. Perhaps they will choose to use more ARP funding to partner with a provider; that would help. Their code red status will help them explain the severity of their standing to policymakers.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• 2016 – BENTON COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE COMPANY BOCK – GRANT: $510,000

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Kanabec County. (http://tinyurl.com/gvyes6n)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 87 (same3)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 11.85

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 58
Code: Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Jackson County: coverage stalled at 69 percent

Jackson County has been stalled for as long as we’ve been tracking. They benefited from an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant in 2010. They benefited from a Border to Border grant in 2015.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Jackson is $1,909,571; broadband is one possible use.

Jackson may see an influx of funding in the future. This could jumpstart them back into being broadband leaders. For now, however, they remain at code red.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• In 2010, Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services (SMBS) received ARRA funds to deploy fiber to the home in Jackson and other counties. Through SMBS, Jackson County was also part of the Blandin Broadband Communities initiative in 2015-2016
• 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile – Grant award: $808,080

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Jackson County. (http://tinyurl.com/h3vyqx9)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 65 (down 7)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yea
• Household density: 5.52

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 29
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Itasca County: recent grant will help improve access

Itasca County has seen very small incremental increases in broadband over the last few years. But they showed a boldness in last 2020, when they decided to invest $293,000 in CARES funding in broadband with Paul Bunyan.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Itasca is $8,752,686; broadband is one possible use.

If they are able to go bold with ARP funding for broadband they may go a long way toward ubiquitous broadband, but for now, they stay at code yellow.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

• 2017 – Paul Bunyan Communications – North Central Fiber – GRANT $802,620
• 2016 MEDIACOM HARRIS TOWNSHIP – GRANT: $224,369
• 2016 – PAUL BUNYAN COMMUNICATIONS HUBBARD, BECKER & ITASCA COUNTIES – GRANT: $1,742,232
• 2015 – Paul Bunyan Central Itasca County Fiber – Grant Award: $1,980,000
• Paul Bunyan Communications – North Central Minnesota Fiber Project– GRANT $2,562,916

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Itasca County. (http://tinyurl.com/grujo6t)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 29 (down 1)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
• Household density: 6.54

Details:

• 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)

Rank: 81
Code: Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

Isanti County: stalled at 50 percent – they need help

Isanti County is served by one large national provider. That may be a bottleneck to better access in those areas, because as we have noted in the past, lack of competition can impact the drive for improvement.

We don’t hear much from Isanti. To see improvement, they will likely need to come together as a community to seek better broadband.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Isanti is $7,873,344broadband is one possible use. Unfortunately, money to invest may not be the right tool if they provider isn’t engaged.

Isanti maintains their red code. They may need intervention, such as the Blandin Accelerate program, a process to spur community acquisition and deployment of federal and state broadband funds, to find an alternative solution.

Broadband Access:

Computer Access:

Past grants:

none

Checklist:

• Find more articles on broadband in Isanti County. (http://tinyurl.com/gozt2ka)
• 100/20 Mbps ranking: 81 (down 1 place)
• Has worked with Blandin: yes
• Has received a MN Broadband grant: no
• Household density: 34.53

Details:

• 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)