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Mower County

Table of goal data by year
Year 100/20 Mbps 1 Gbps
2025 #46 – 87.19% #20 – 82.23%
2024 #44 – 86.44%
2023 #46 – 83.61%
2022 #37 – 83.25%
2021 #35 – 84.95%
2020 #41 – 79.03%
2019 #37 – 78.56%
2018 #79 – 23.31%
2017 #14 – 90.2%
Coverage map graphic

Red dots represent unserved locations.

Mower County: incremental improvement

Mower County continues on their path of incremental improvement. They ran into a road block when LTD Broadband was awarded federal funding and then funding was revoked.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. It looks like BEAD funding won’t help much but there are other providers in the area. They retain their Yellow status – barely.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 165 locations in Anoka County. Some locations will get fiber but the majority will get a satellite, which does not qualify as served in the MN statute.

There is still Line Extension funding yet to be distributed, which helps connect handfuls of  houses just beyond existing infrastructure. (Mower has recently benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So that seems hopeful for them as well.)

There have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty, as Mower saw with LTD Broadband (aka GigFire).

Household Density

21.0

Number of Providers

19

As of 2025 · Source: MN DEED

Households with Device Access

A Device 85.5% 95.5%
statewide
Desktop or Laptop 72.2% 83.2%
statewide
Smartphone 67.0% 90.1%
statewide
Tablet 53.5% 65.8%
statewide
Other 6.3% 2.3%
statewide

Has Worked with Blandin Foundation

Yes

Has Received MN Grant(s)

Yes

MN State Grant awarded in 2021: KMTelecom – Rock Dell Southwest Fiber Build – GRANT $404,709 This last mile project will serve approximately 96 unserved households, 70 farms and five unserved businesses in rural Vernon Township in Dodge County and Sargeant Township in Mower County.

2024:

  • County: Mower
    Arvig
    Arvig – Mower Cty
    Grant: $3,129,412
    Local Match: $1,043,137
    Total Budget: $4,172,549
    Arvig has been providing competitive broadband services to Minnesota communities since 1998. This Border-to-Border project would improve services in portions of Rose Creek, Elkton, and Adams in rural Mower County. The project would bring broadband to 225 structures via an all fiber-to-the-home network. 164 of those structures are residential locations that are unserved. All these locations would be able to receive up to 10 Gbps download speeds and 1 Gbps upload. The total project cost would bring fiber-to-the-premises to all 225 structures. Mower County is contributing $584,156.92 towards the project.
  • County: Mower
    Spectrum Mid-America, LLC
    Spectrum-Mower County
    Grant: $414,699
    Local Match: $614,698
    Total Budget: $1,029,397
    Charter will construct a last-mile fiber-to-the-premises (“FTTP”) network to provide service to unserved and underserved households in Mower County, primarily Austin Township. The project will serve an estimated 148 unserved and underserved locations, including seven (7) businesses, 19 farms, a town hall, a nature center, and a senior living facility. Mower County is contributing $100,000 to the project.

Government Districts

U.S. Congress: CD 1

MN Senate: 23, 26

MN House: 23B, 26B

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