Sherburne County

Table of goal data by year

Year	25/3 Mbps	100/20 Mbps
2019	#30 of 87 91.63%	#50 of 87 72.36%
2018	#29 of 87 89.23%	#36 of 87 67.11%
2017	#49 of 87 75.4%	#67 of 87 28.02%

County Profile Coverage Map

Rank: 49 (out of 87) for broadband at 100/20 megabits per second (Mbps)

Sherburne County is not poised to meet the Minnesota broadband goals for either 2022 or 2026. Their numbers are actually pretty good, but they have seen only incremental improvements in the last few years. They need a renewed concerted effort to improve if they want to meet the state broadband goals.

Sherburne County has benefited a few state grants:

• 2017 – Palmer Wireless – Sherburne County Road 3 – GRANT $110,661
  SErving serve 20 unserved households and 10 unserved businesses, and one underserved community institution in Sherburne County with speeds of 1 Gbps download and 500 Mbps upload.
• 2016 – PALMER WIRELESS BIG LAKE INDUSTRIAL PARK – GRANT: $ 90,988
  Serving 17 underserved businesses and 1 underserved community anchor institution in the Big Lake, MN, industrial park on the east edge of town, adjacent to US Hwy 10 with service of  100 Mbps by 20 Mbps. The project will bring fiber-to-the-premise technology to the businesses, seeking to replicate the success of the 2014 Border-to-Border broadband grant project with the Becker Industrial Park, to make a positive impact on the economic health of Big Lake and the businesses in the park. Total eligible project cost is $211,600. Local match is $120,612.
• 2016 – PALMER WIRELESS DEL TONE ROAD AND ST. CLOUD AIRPORT – GRANT: $ 179,400
  Serving 14 unserved businesses and 1 unserved community anchor institution on the east side of St. Cloud, MN with services to 1 Gigabit.
• 2014 – Palmer Wireless, Becker Industrial Park
  Award: $151,934. Total project cost: $303,870. Impact: service to 21 underserved businesses in the Becker Industrial Park and 12 vacant city-owned lots covering 70 acres.

Sherburne County was a 2015-2016 Blandin Broadband Community.  They also worked with  Blandin on trying to improve their connectivity. Their connectivity is not bad, but it hasn’t improved much in the last few years.

Sherburne County could benefit from future grants. In 2019, Arvig applied to upgrade service in Sherburne. (That doesn’t mean they will get the grant; they have only applied.)

Find more articles on broadband in Sherburne County.