REGIONAL- St. Louis County is falling behind in the deployment of high-speed broadband, tumbling down the rankings of Minnesota counties based on recent data from the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development, or OBD.
Ann Treacy tracks broadband development initiatives for the Blandin Foundation in her regular “Blandin on Broadband” email updates, and her recent analysis reveals the challenges facing residents in the state’s geographically largest county when it comes to getting high-speed broadband internet access.
The currently accepted baseline for high-speed broadband is 100 megabits per second download and 20 megabits per second upload, and OBD has a goal of reaching full access to these speeds statewide by 2026.
That target appears to be a tall order for St. Louis County, however, according to Treacy’s analysis. OBD estimates that 23,734 households of the county’s 88,360 residential locations are without wired 100/20mbps service, ranking 68th in the state, a drop of 11 places from last year’s rankings.
Using a cost estimate of $9,300 per household for service deployment, Treacy calculated that bringing wired high-speed broadband to all households in the county would cost $22.73 million.
Due to technological advancements in fiber optic technology, gig-speed broadband, or 1,000 megabits per second, has been replacing 100/20mbps as the preferred speed for new system deployments, and St. Louis County ranks 73rd in the state in access to those speeds.
The major hurdle facing high-speed broadband expansion is finding enough funding to reach the number of households that need it, particularly when it comes to reaching underserved rural areas, which are more costly to connect. Treacy’s analysis concluded that it would take over $2 billion for Minnesota to reach 241,705 unserved households and meet its 2026 goal, while Minnesota’s allocation of funds from the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is only $651 million.
Clearly, states will have to make choices about how to reach high-cost unserved locations, which will likely mean turning to technologies other than wired fiber optics, such as fixed wireless and satellite. The lack of overall funding and the need to target those funds to manage deployment needs sets up a conundrum, Treacy noted.
“The frustration is that it sets up a two-tiered system where some (hopefully most) people get better internet access (fiber-like access) and some do not,” Treacy said. “It doesn’t feel fair but it’s the best we can do without a limitless budget. It feels a lot less fair if your cousin a mile closer to town gets fiber and you don’t. If you go from access to nothing to satellite, that will feel more like a win but if you aren’t satisfied with current broadband and you don’t see improvement that will feel like a lost opportunity.”
Minnesota does have an edge when it comes to getting the best return for available dollars to invest, Treacy said.
“This is where Minnesota has the advantage of experience with the Office of Broadband Development,” she said. “They know the lay of the land and the players. They have a history of getting folks to work together to optimize available funding.”