Fun to share a new report on Minnesota community broadband initiatives…
In 2010 the Minnesota legislature set a goal: universal access to high speed broadband throughout the state by 2015. As 2015 approaches we know that large parts of Greater Minnesota will not achieve that goal, even as technological advances make the original benchmarks increasingly obsolete.
But some Minnesota communities are significantly exceeding those goals. Why? The activism of local governments.
A new report by ILSR, widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable organizations on municipal broadband networks, details the many ways Minnesota’s local governments have stepped up. “All Hands On Deck: Minnesota Local Government Models for Expanding Fiber Internet Access” includes case studies of 12 Minnesota cities and counties striving to bring their citizens 21st century telecommunications.
“When national cable and telephone companies have refused to modernize their communications systems, local governments have stepped up. And in the process saved money, attracted new businesses, and made it more likely that their youth will stick around,” says Chris Mitchell, Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative.
Windom, which is one of the most advanced networks in the state, built their own network after their telephone company refused to invest in their community.
Dakota County showed how a coordinated excavation policy can reduce by more than 90 percent the cost of installing fiber.
Lac qui Parle County partnered with a telephone cooperative to bring high speed broadband to its most sparsely population communities.
ILSR’s report is particularly timely because this week, the governor’s office began accepting applications for the state’s new $20 million initiative Border-to-Border program. “We hope that before communities submit their applications they read this report to learn what others have done,” says Mitchell.
