Le Sueur County

Table of goal data by year

Year	Rank	100/20 Mbps
2024	#54 of 87	82.79%
2023	#50 of 87	81.23%
2022	#56 of 87	74.92%
2021	#49 of 87	76%
2020	#55 of 87	70.67%
2019	#52 of 87	70.33%
2018	#31 of 87	70.65%
2017	#16 of 87	82.78%

Red dots represent unserved locations.

Wired (wireline) and wireless (fixed, non-mobile) served location percentage at various speeds.

Le Sueur County: When Federal Funding Gets in the Way

Le Sueur County ranks 54 (down four places) for broadband access out of 87 counties. Le Sueur has been working hard on better broadband in 2018. In 2020, they became a Blandin Broadband Community.

The community (especially Le Sueur County Broadband Initiative county) is active with an annual booth at the County Fair and other activities. They were hit hard when LTD Broadband was awarded federal funding and then funding was revoked. They lost the funding but also lost time when they were unable to apply for grants because of LTD Broadband’s award.

They are also concerned about being in a potentially precarious position because looking at access in Le Sueur County using the FCC National Map there is a big discrepancy between wireline access (78.43 percent coverage) and wireline with fixed wireless (96.24 percent). Minnesota doesn’t currently take fixed wireless into consideration when defining areas eligible for grants; the federal government does include access to fixed wireless.

• Over the years, Le Sueur County (or cities within) has invested $ 814,000 (total) for matches for 3 successful MN Broadband grants. This is an indicator of local government that is engaged and (literally) invested in better, local broadband.
• Le Sueur County will benefit from a 2024 $1,101,801 MN Broadband grant (Round 10) award that will serve 148 locations.
• Le Sueur County will benefit from 3 line extension awards (Rounds 1 and 2), which extend broadband to individual locations.
• Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $21 million to get ubiquitous broadband in the county. (I haven’t updated the number because recent report offers scenarios of costs based on BEAD funding rules that make current estimates less predictable than in the past. Yet, I think the number is still helpful.)
• In 2022, Lake ranked 26 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.
• In May 2024, Le Sueur was awarded $1 million for the Le Sueur County Broadband Initiative. These funds will be used to expand broadband access throughout the county.