LE CENTER, MINN. – With free coffee and a raffle as bait, Barbara Dröher Kline draws in visitors to her booth at the Le Sueur County Fair for a question: “How’s your internet?”
One passerby uses data on her phone. Another likes her service with Bevcomm.
It’s a slow trickle on Friday morning, across from animal barns and next to a 4-H goat show. But the work is critical for county officials.
As the federal government prepares to hand out an unprecedented flood of cash in Minnesota for improving access to broadband – including a whopping $652 million from the 2021 infrastructure bill – decisions on how to direct money to connect rural areas might be influenced by small conversations like these.
The fair is one way to spread information to people in Le Sueur County, like what internet providers serve certain areas. It’s also a way for county officials to gather intel, especially as they prepare to contest the service claims of a controversial telecom company in hopes of getting a share of broadband money.
“Our county is still really motivated to move ahead but, you know, you hit these roadblocks,” Dröher Kline said.
FCC maps determine federal funding
Minnesota has inched closer to universal access to high-speed internet in recent years, fueled by state and federal money. Earlier this year, for instance, the Legislature approved $100 million to subsidize the construction of infrastructure, namely fiber-optic cable. The cash is used to help developers build in places where they say it would be too expensive to justify the cost without a government subsidy. That includes sparse rural areas and parts of the state with difficult terrain.
But Minnesota is in line for a gold rush of cash like never before, even if it won’t be quite enough to hit state broadband goals. First, and most notably, there’s the $652 million for the state from the 2021 federal infrastructure bill. That legislation approved $42.5 billion in broadband funding across the country.
As those programs get up and running – state officials are still devising a plan with the federal government for using the $652 million – it’s too soon to say which providers and what parts of the state could get money.
But maps of existing coverage published by the FCC are a critical starting point, and have sparked jockeying among telecom and broadband advocates for a slice of the pie. A look at those maps shows wide coverage by LTD Broadband in southern Minnesota, at download and upload speeds of 250 megabits per second (mbps).
That is fast enough to exceed state and federal standards, which considers 100/20 mbps service – which also can match or beat typical speeds in big urban areas – to be adequate.
Critics, however, argue the FCC maps aren’t accurate. And they hope to erase at least parts of LTD’s territory from the map. One survey of 120 LTD customers in Le Sueur County found average speeds of 9/1 mbps, according to a letter sent to state regulators by county officials.
“It shows we’re predominantly well served while we’re not and that’s a problem,” Dröher Kline said.
Challenging maps
Brent Christensen, president and CEO of the Minnesota Telecom Alliance, said LTD has been “fraudulent” in claiming speeds it can’t actually deliver. The Telecom Alliance is a trade association that represents more than 70 companies including small rural cooperatives and larger companies like Lumen Technologies, formerly known as CenturyLink.
Meanwhile, Corey Hauer, CEO of LTD Broadband, told MinnPost there may be individual houses or locations where they have made a mistake. But he said it’s not a widespread issue.
“I fixed one (location) in the last month-and-a-half to give you an idea,” Hauer said. “For them to say we’re broadly misrepresenting our coverage seems in discord with the reality of challenges that we’ve received.”
If Christensen is right – which is still an unanswered question – Le Sueur County and the MTA worry that LTD Broadband would wrongfully block them, particularly from money in the smaller “enhanced” A-CAM program.
The money from the infrastructure bill is a bit more complicated. It appears that federal regulators overseeing that particular pot of cash don’t count technology used by LTD Broadband. That means the LTD coverage area would still be considered “unserved,” opening the door for grants that would subsidize other providers.
LTD mainly offers what’s known as “fixed wireless,” which distributes a signal from a transmitter placed on a tall structure like a water tower. The feds prefer fiber cable to the home for the infrastructure program. Minnesota officials also believe fiber is faster and more reliable. The performance of fiber compared to fixed wireless has long been a source of debate in the industry.
Hauer told MinnPost he doesn’t think their existing services would block anyone from the cash earmarked for broadband in the infrastructure bill. And he hopes to actually compete for grants from the infrastructure money through building fiber.
Nevertheless, there is a process to contest the FCC maps.
For a county-wide challenge, Dröher Kline said she hopes to gather more specific information than from the county’s survey. And she needs enough people to make a case.
That means finding residents who have service from LTD Broadband and running speed tests. It also means working with people to sign up for internet and ask the company for speeds advertised to the FCC to see if the company can deliver them.
The fair booth had detailed maps showing what parts of the county have coverage from any broadband provider. Raffle winners got coffee mugs advertising the county’s broadband initiative. Free coffee was available to all. “But I interrogate them about who their broadband provider is,” Dröher Kline said.
The telecom company Bevcomm has also been preparing to contest LTD Broadband’s claims on the FCC maps in southern Minnesota. That includes using “secret shopper” exercises and having company employees sign up for service, asking for the fast speeds advertised.
Bevcomm CEO Bill Eckles said they are primarily concerned with being precluded from using money in the A-CAM program. Even though LTD’s technology means it might not block grants from the infrastructure bill, he said there could be reason for concern there anyway.
Eckles speculated that state officials may prioritize areas not served by LTD Broadband when doling out the infrastructure money since there’s not enough cash to cover the whole state.
“It’s the uncertainty,” said Dröher Kline, of getting a share of the $652 million.
A controversial company
The clash is the latest chapter in a long-running feud between the MTA, Le Sueur County and LTD Broadband.
Last year, the FCC revoked a $311 million award for the company in Minnesota – and more than $1 billion across the nation – to help build blazing fast internet because of questions about LTD’s ability to deliver on its promises.
LTD Broadband has asked the government to reconsider. At the same time, the Telecom Alliance and others are pushing state regulators to effectively ban LTD from getting that federal funding. Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office and Gov. Tim Walz’s administration support cutting LTD off.
Ultimately, that case is in the hands of the Public Utilities Commission. And it’s unclear if Le Sueur County or others will be successful in contesting what LTD Broadband has reported to the FCC.
Hauer paints the MTA and others as competitors concerned with winning government subsidies and focused on a grudge with LTD rather than serving rural areas. “I do think that a lot of these companies are probably not prepared for competition,” he said. “Historically they haven’t had any, and it’s a challenge.”
For now, the maneuvering in anticipation of federal cash continues. Even at the county fair. Dröher Kline and Le Sueur County Commissioner John King talked with a constituent Todd Sullivan, who King said had fiber internet thanks to subsidized internet.
Sullivan credited LTD for investing money in a broadband system “before we had anything.” King said it’s “better than nothing, but still problematic.”
“They farm so they need access to DTN and all that stuff,” King said of Sullivan, referencing an agricultural information service. “They are the recipient of good work that Barbara has done. But we’re stymied by bureaucracy and bad actors.”
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