Winona County

Table of goal data by year

Year	25/3 Mbps	100/20 Mbps
2019	#41 of 87 86.58%	#24 of 87 86.43%
2018	#37 of 87 86.48%	#15 of 87 86.31%
2017	#25 of 87 92.13%	#17 of 87 81.17%

County Profile Coverage Map

Rank: 24 (out of 87) for broadband speeds of 100/20 megabits per second (Mbps)

Winona County is not poised to meet the broadband speed goals for either 2022 or 2026 unless they build a momentum comparable to the momentum they had 20 years ago.

Winona has benefited from several broadband grants:

• 2016 – WINONA COUNTY PICKWICK AREA – GRANT: $416,640
  Serving 88 unserved households, 89 unserved businesses, 2 unserved community anchor institutions, and 23 underserved households and 23 underserved businesses within Wilson, Homer, Richmond, Pleasant Hill, and Wiscoy Townships in Winona County with service levels to 1 Gigabit speed.
• 2015 – Hiawatha Broadband Communications – Winona County Whitewater Area
  Grant Award: $247,000
  Serving 418 passings including 135 households, 70 businesses and 5 community anchor institutions in in Elba and Norton Townships including Whitewater State Park.
• 2015 – Winona County Hiawatha Broadband Communications – Cedar Valley Area
  Grant award: $314,450
  Serving 256 households, 117 businesses and 3 community anchor institutions in area lies south and west of Winona from Hwy 61 along the Mississippi River to I-90.

Winona County was part of the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) starting in 2010, a Blandin-led and federal (ARRA) funded digital inclusion project. So there has been a focus on broadband for a decade. In fact, Winona is the home of Luminet, a early broadband provider that eventually became Hiawatha Broadband and then Schurz Communications.

Unfortunately, Winona has not kept pace. They need to build a momentum to get them on track to meet the speed goals.

Find more articles on broadband in Winona County.