Itasca County

Table of goal data by year

Year	25/3 Mbps	100/20 Mbps
2019	#23 of 87 93.12%	#27 of 87 83.06%
2018	#38 of 87 86.15%	#23 of 87 79.44%
2017	#45 of 87 78.92%	#21 of 87 76.35%

County Profile Coverage Map

Rank: 27 (out of 87) for broadband speeds of 200/10 megabits per second (Mbps)

Itasca County seems like it might be poised to meet the Minnesota broadband speed goals, but they need a concerted effort. They have several providers in the area and they benefit from being home to the Blandin Foundation, which helps with investment and raising awareness.

Itasca has been working on broadband for many years. They were part of the Blandin Broadband Communities (BBC) initiative before 2014. About the same time, Connect Itasca started surveying residents about broadband.

Itasca has benefited from several state broadband grants:

• 2017 – Paul Bunyan Communications – North Central Fiber – GRANT $802,620
  Serving 657 unserved households, 29 unserved businesses, and 5 unserved community institutions, and 130 underserved households, 13 underserved businesses, and 1 underserved community institution near the communities of Park Rapids, Bigfork, and Side Lake, MN, to locations in St. Louis, Itasca, and Hubbard Counties with services exceeding the 2026 state and current federal speed goals.
• 2016 MEDIACOM HARRIS TOWNSHIP – GRANT: $224,369
  Serving 262 unserved households and 6 unserved businesses in Harris Township in Itasca County with services at 100 Mbps download by 20 Mbps upload.
• 2016 – PAUL BUNYAN COMMUNICATIONS HUBBARD, BECKER & ITASCA COUNTIES – GRANT: $1,742,232
  Serving 785 unserved households, 26 unserved businesses, 2 unserved community anchor institutions and 143 underserved households and 2 underserved businesses in rural portions of Itasca, Hubbard, and Becker counties. Combined, these areas are home to an estimated 2,750 people and nearly 50 small businesses.
• 2015 – Paul Bunyan Central Itasca County Fiber
  Grant Award: $1,980,000
  Serving 1193 households, 53 businesses and 5 community anchor institutions.

Itasca County is fortunate in that there are several providers in the area that currently offer Gigabit services. They need to work with providers to extend or expand their services.

Find more articles on broadband in Itasca County.