Wadena County

Table of goal data by year

Year	Rank	100/20 Mbps
2021	#13 of 87	97.29%
2020	#13 of 87	95.53%
2019	#17 of 87	91.07%
2018	#53 of 87	49.91%
2017	#49 of 87	45.69%

Coverage Map

Rank: 13 (out of 87) for access to 100/20 megabits per second (Mbps)

Wadena County jumped from 49 percent access to 91 in 2019 and has been improving incrementally since then. They did a great in the last round and that might be the push they need to get to ubiquitous broadband.

Wadena County will benefit from a MN State Grant awarded in 2021:

West Central Telephone Association – Rural Staples Phase 2 – GRANT $465,050 This last mile project will serve 56 unserved locations in extremely rural areas of Wadena and Cass counties.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Wadena is $2,653,540; broadband is one possible use.

If the state grant doesn’t get the county to goal, they could try to encourage the community to invest in broadband with federal funding. That would help them reach ubiquitous broadband. They are a green code community.

Past grants:

2015 – West Central Telephone Association Hwy 71 Wadena NORTH Expansion Project – Grant Award: $193,515

WCTA (West Central Telephone Association) – Rural Staples Phase I Project – GRANT $555,355

Find more articles on broadband in Wadena County (http://tinyurl.com/z7xgkz8)