Redwood County

Table of goal data by year

Year	100/20 Mbps	1 Gbps
2025	#39 – 90.5%	#77 – 25.4%
2024	#57 – 82.38%
2023	#63 – 76.23%
2022	#84 – 48.35%
2021	#85 – 40.04%
2020	#86 – 36.48%
2019	#83 – 33.56%
2018	#72 – 33.56%
2017	#60 – 34.37%

Red dots represent unserved locations.

Redwood County: Moving up the ranking

Redwood County’s broadband coverage has been improving steadily over the years and now they have edge into the above 90 percent barrier. Subsequently, they have bumped from Yellow to Green status.

ranks 57 (up 6 places) for broadband access out of 87 counties. Redwood County went from almost 40 percent coverage in 2021 to 82 percent now. Last year, they worked on better broadband with the help of a Lead Fellow and a broadband survey. Redwood County’s work getting the community engaged with a survey will likely help them strive to get federal (BEAD) funding once it becomes available. That is how they retain their yellow ranking.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 373 locations in Redwood County. Half of the locations are slated for fiber; the rest will get a satellite or fixed wireless connection, 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. (Redwood has not benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So that might be a strategy worth considering.)

Statewide, there have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty.