Faribault County

Table of goal data by year

Year	Rank	100/20 Mbps
2021	#84 of 87	43.95%
2020	#83 of 87	40.56%
2019	#77 of 87	39.2%
2018	#60 of 87	42.28%
2017	#44 of 87	49.13%

Coverage Map

Rank: 82 (out of 87) for access to 100/20 megabits per second (Mbps)

Faribault County is served primarily by BEVCOMM and Mediacom. They are engaged but they are still hovering at 40 percent access. One strange issue is that they are well served at the slower speed of 25/3, which means many residents may be complacent, but it does not build for the future or attract new people of business.

In August, Faribault County was awarded $2,886,206 for broadband improvement from the MN Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) from the Small Cities Coronavirus Community Development Block Grant Program. Also projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Faribault is $2,647,915; broadband is one possible use.

Faribault County will benefit from a few MN State Grants awarded in 2021:

• BEVCOMM (Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company, Easton Telephone Company & Cannon Valley Telecom) – Rural Faribault County and Martin County Fiber Expansion Phase 2 Project – GRANT $1,182,818 This last mile project will serve approximately two unserved households, 203 underserved households, 46 underserved businesses, and 181 underserved farms in portions of Faribault and Martin counties.
• Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association – SE Faribault/W Freeborn County FTTP – GRANT $953,842 This last-mile fiber optic project will bring service to 319 unserved locations, including 289 homes, 16 businesses, 11 farms, and three community anchor institutions in the townships of Clark, Foster, Kiester, Seely, Alden, Carlston, Manchester, Mansfield, and Pickerel Lake located in Southeastern Faribault and Western Freeborn counties.

The influx of money is hopeful but they have a steep climb and that is why they are still code red. They may benefit from 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.

Past grants:

• 2017 – BEVCOMM (Easton Telephone Company) – Delavan SE Rural Project – GRANT $220,350
• 2016 – BLUE EARTH VALLEY TELEPHONE CO. (DBA BEVCOMM) RURAL WINNEBAGO – GRANT:  $152,828
• 2015 – BEVCOMM Blue Earth Valley Telephone – Rural Winnebago Fiber-to-the-Premises Project – Grant award: $142,690
• BEVCOMM (Blue Earth Valley Telephone Company & Easton Telephone Company) – Rural Faribault County Project – GRANT: $579,781
• BEVCOMM received CARES Act funding from the County for broadband expansion.

Find more articles on broadband in Faribault County. (http://tinyurl.com/jzwv3gx)