Waseca County

Table of goal data by year

Year	Rank	100/20 Mbps
2024	#69 of 87	74.91%
2023	#64 of 87	76.12%
2022	#55 of 87	75.12%
2021	#52 of 87	75.02%
2020	#46 of 87	75.34%
2019	#43 of 87	75.2%
2018	#25 of 87	75.06%
2017	#3 of 87	98.75%

Red dots represent unserved locations.

Wired (wireline) and wireless (fixed, non-mobile) served location percentage at various speeds.

Waseca County: Stalled at 75 Percent Broadband Access

Waseca County ranks 69 (down 5 places) for broadband access out of 87 counties.

Waseca County has been hovering around 75 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up since 2018. I don’t see any grants in the hopper or yet to be spent. They retain their red ranking.

Also, they are also concerned about being in a potentially precarious position because looking at access in the County using the FCC National Map there is a big discrepancy between wireline access (75.4 percent coverage) and wireline with fixed wireless (98.56 percent). Minnesota doesn’t currently take fixed wireless into consideration when defining areas eligible for grants; the federal government does include access to fixed wireless. That could make a big difference to who is eligible for BEAD funding.

Last year, I was able to have a great conversation with Steve Kraus, in Waseca County, about their intention and momentum with broadband. Waseca’s community it ready and eager to work for better broadband. It’s great to see that they will benefit from $5.6 million in 2024 MN State grants. That should make a great difference in their ranking (and access) next year!

• Over the years, Waseca County (or cities within) has invested $165,000 (total) for matches for 1 successful MN Broadband grants. This is an indicator of local government that is engaged and (literally) invested in better, local broadband.
• Waseca County will benefit from two 2024 MN Broadband grants:
  $1.2 million that will serve 163 locations and
  $4.4 million that will serve 492 locations
• Waseca County will not benefit from any line extension awards (Rounds 1 and 2), which extend broadband to individual locations.
• Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $19.5 million to get ubiquitous broadband in the county. (I haven’t updated the number because recent report offers scenarios of costs based on BEAD funding rules that make current estimates less predictable than in the past. Yet, I think the number is still helpful.)
• In 2022, Waseca ranked 84^th using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.