Yellow Medicine County

Yellow Medicine County: Improvement But Too Slow

Yellow Medicine County ranks 79 (down one point) for broadband access out of 87 counties. They 61.09 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 1695 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $15.7 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Yellow Medicine has steadily increased broadband coverage, unfortunately they are far away from the goal. They will need a concerted effort to get closer to the goal. In 2023, Interstate Telecom was awarded almost $5 million in Border to Border funding to construct a 100% fiber-to-the-premises broadband network with speeds capable of up to 1 Gbps download and 1 Gbps upload. The project will serve 483 locations in Yellow Medicine County. ITC has another application in to the latest (still open) round of Border to Border funding; results should be available in early 2024.

They may also be 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 (56.69 percent coverage) and wireline with fixed wireless (99.5 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.

It seems as if Yellow Medicine has an engaged provider that might be able to help them reach the broadband goal with state or upcoming federal (BEAD) funding.