Governor Walz Announces $52 Million to Expand Broadband to nearly 8,000 Minnesota Homes and Businesses

Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) announced $52 million in grants to expand broadband access to an estimated 7,700 homes and businesses throughout Minnesota. The grant awards will help broadband providers expand high-speed broadband service in 24 counties across Minnesota. The grants come from two Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) programs:

• $25 million from DEED's flagship Border-to-Border Broadband Program, through which broadband provider grantees are reimbursed for up to half the eligible cost of deploying broadband infrastructure, with funding for a single project capped at $10 million.
• $27 million from the Low Population Density Program, which offers grants to providers building broadband service to areas of Minnesota with particularly low population densities and high broadband deployment costs. The grants can be worth up to $10 million and cover up to 75% of the total cost of a project.

List of Border-to-Border Grantees by County:

Aitkin

Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative
$1,808,768

Carlton 

Consolidated Telephone Company
$2,127,530

Faribault, Freeborn

Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company
$1,779,163

Fillmore

Ace Telephone Association
$2,567,200

Fillmore, Olmsted, Winona

MiEnergy Cooperative
$3,164,721

Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs

East Central Energy
$3,267,902

Kandiyohi

Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association – Gennessee Township
$662,430
Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association – Kandiyohi Township
$744,965

Mille Lacs

East Central Energy
$3,604,567

Morrison

Benton Cooperative Telephone Company
$1,248,430

Nobles

Lismore Cooperative Telephone Co
$208,598

Olmsted

Kasson & Mantorville Telephone Company
$515,564

St. Louis

Mediacom LLC – Lakewood Normanna
$145,000
Mediacom LLC – Lakewood South
$232,800

Stearns

Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association
$542,077
Arvig
$708,790

Washington

Midco
$689,700

Wright

Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association
$945,133

Total: $24,963,338

List of Low Population Density Grantees by County:

Clearwater, Mahnomen

Garden Valley Telephone Company
$4,626,012

Le Sueur

Bevcomm Inc
$1,101,801

Martin

Federated Rural Electric Association
$8,008,419

Murray

Woodstock Telephone Company
$2,914,733

Otter Tail

Otter Tail Telcom
$3,700,198

St. Louis

Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative
$3,924,157

Stearns

Runestone Telecom Association
$1,538,614

Waseca

Bevcomm Inc.
$1,186,050

Total: $26,999,984