Federal Broadband Funding to Connect 89,000 Minnesotans; DEED Begins Prequalification Process
February 19, 2025
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced today that nearly 89,000 Minnesota homes and businesses could receive new high-speed broadband service through the state's $652 million federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) allocation.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has formally accepted DEED's proposed map of final eligible locations that BEAD funding could serve. During this so-called Challenge Process, DEED identified 88,700 locations that qualify as unserved (with broadband speeds slower than 25 megabits [Mbps] per second download and 3 Mbps upload) or underserved (with speeds slower than 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload).