Brown County
| Year | 100/20 Mbps | 1 Gbps |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #59 – 84.13% | #27 – 72.45% |
| 2024 | #52 – 84.12% | |
| 2023 | #54 – 78.4% | |
| 2022 | #45 – 79.96% | |
| 2021 | #50 – 75.99% | |
| 2020 | #48 – 74.6% | |
| 2019 | #45 – 74.5% | |
| 2018 | #27 – 73.76% | |
| 2017 | #24 – 72.89% |
Red dots represent unserved locations.
Brown County: maybe some deployment will spur more
Brown County has not seen movement since last year. They did get grant funding in the area last year, perhaps that impact will be apparent soon. But not yet.
At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 943 locations in Brown County. However, the majority of locations will go to fiber, which will help quite a bit.
There is still Line Extension funding yet to be distributed, which helps connect handfuls of houses just beyond existing infrastructure. (Although, Brown has not benefited from Line Extension awards in the past.) There have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty.
I am boosting Brown County’s status to Yellow, based on the expectation that the BEAD funding will be disbursed in the next year.
Household Density
17.0
Number of Providers
16
As of 2025 · Source: MN DEED
Households with Device Access
statewide
statewide
statewide
statewide
statewide
Has Worked with Blandin Foundation
Yes
Has Received MN Grant(s)
Yes
2107 – New Ulm Telecom, Inc.– Hanska A&D FTTP – GRANT $324,894
2016 – New Ulm Telecom, Inc. – Hanska – GRANT: $ 200,397
2019 – Nuvera Communications, Inc. – New Ulm SW Project – GRANT $385,600
2021 – Minnesota Valley Telephone Company (MVTC) – Rural Franklin Fiber Project – GRANT $226,800. This middle and last mile project will serve approximately 45 unserved locations in the City of Franklin and the townships of Sherman, Eden, Camp and Birch Cooley in Redwood, Renville and Brown counties.
2024:
- County: Brown, Cottonwood
Hanson Communications
Hanson – Comfrey FTTP
Grant: $395,138
Local Match: $592,711
Total Budget: $987,849
Hanson Communications will build and operate a Fiber to the Premises network to cover the unserved and underserved areas in Comfrey, MN. Hanson has identified this project as an area in need of better broadband as nearly 85% of the town is unserved according to the Minnesota definition of broadband service. There are 245 total fiber passings in the project including 161 unserved households, 47 unserved businesses, and 5 unserved community anchor institutions, including the school, the fire station, the City office, the post office and the community center. There are an additional 27 underserved households, and 5 businesses. Many of the people who work and live in Comfrey are connected to agriculture in some way, shape or form. Farmers, specifically, can achieve heightened efficiency and tap into new markets and resources by integrating broadband into their farming and livestock operations. The city of Comfrey has contributed $10,000 toward the project.
Government Districts
U.S. Congress: CD 1, CD 7
MN Senate: 15
MN House: 15B