On Wednesday, the Senate Agriculture and Rural Development Committee heard three bills that provide funding to expand broadband access in underserved and unserved areas of Minnesota through the Border-to-Border Broadband program.

“In 2021, it is hard to imagine there are still places that can’t even get high-speed internet access,” said Sen. Mike Goggin (R-Red Wing). “But unfortunately that is too often the case in Greater Minnesota, and it caused many of those communities to feel additional pain and hardship during the Covid pandemic. This funding will bring this crucial technology to a lot of families and businesses who desperately need it.”

The Border to Border Broadband Fund targets the development of permanent broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas. Minnesota contains large areas of land that fall into the unserved and underserved categories, which shows that this infrastructure is a critical need in our state. 

Senate District 21 broadband connectivity by school district: