Lake of the Woods County

Table of goal data by year

Year	25/3 Mbps	100/20 Mbps
2020	#85 of 87 57.91%	#73 of 87 54.66%
2019	#86 of 87 57.42%	#65 of 87 53.93%
2018	#83 of 87 50.47%	#52 of 87 50.47%
2017	#76 of 87 50.61%	#87 of 87 0%

Coverage Map

Rank: 72 (out of 87) for access to 100/20 megabits per second (Mbps)

Lake of the Woods has been working on broadband for several years. They have received Border to Border grants. They were a Blandin Broadband Community. But they have been stalled at just over 50 percent coverage for speeds of 100/20 Mbps for three years. They will benefit from a Wikstrom Telephone projects that received a Border to Border award in the last round of funding; but that is a large project crossing several counties, so we’ll see the impact in next year’s mapping.

What we learned in the past:

Lake of the Woods benefited from two state grants:

• 2016 – SJOBERG’S INC. ROSEAU AND LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTIES — GRANT: $354,740
• 2016 – WIKSTROM TELEPHONE COMPANY WIKTEL NW MN – GRANT: $950,823

Update from 2020:

Lake of the Woods will benefit from a Border to Border project funded in the last round:

• 2019: Wikstrom Telephone – Wiktel NW MN Broadband Project – GRANT $1,151,526
  This last mile project will upgrade approximately 316 unserved locations in areas of Kittson, Marshall, Lake of the Woods, Pennington, and Roseau Counties. In a funding partnership with the State of Minnesota, Wikstrom Telephone will improve broadband service levels up to 1 Gbps download and 1 Gbps upload, exceeding the 2022 and 2026 state speed goals. This project will provide service to an area with 1.6 subscribers per route mile of cable, in some cases extending from routes placed under the 2016 and 2017 Border to Border State Grant program. Broadband service is the key to economic development, successful education services for children, and allows at-home health care monitoring in this remote area.

• Total eligible cost is $2,558,946
• Local match is $1,407,420

Find more articles on broadband in Lake of the Woods County.