10-20-2020 IAC ReportPage 1 of 1
City of Scandia
14727 209 th St. N. PO Box 128, Scandia, Minnesota 55073
Phone (651) 433 -2274 Fax (651) 433 -5112 http://www.ci.scandia.mn.us
DATE: October 20, 2020
FROM: Bob Willmers Internet Action Committee Chair
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
RE: October 2020 Internet Action Report
The 2020 Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant
Local internet service provider, Midco, has had its latest application for the 2020 Border-to-
Border Broadband Development grant program received by the Minnesota Department of
Employment and Economic Development (DEED). It is one of 64 total grant
submission. Here is an except of latest update from DEED regarding the status of this
latest round of grants:
“Sixty-four (64) applications for the 2020 Border-to-Border Broadband Development grant
program were received by the September 30 deadline. The Office of Broadband Development has
initiated the challenge process required by Minnesota law (Minn. Stat. 116J.395 subd. 5a)
concurrent with its review of the applications. A list of the applications filed and instructions on how
to file a challenge, if necessary, are available under the “Challenge Process” tab. Any challenges
must be submitted in writing by 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 4, 2020 to the Office of
Broadband Development, 1st National Bank Building, 332 Minnesota Street, Suite E200, St.
Paul, MN 55101.”
The following is a link to the part of the application that shows the service areas and census
blocks: https://apps.deed.state.mn.us/assets/broadband/2020-Midco-Scandia-
CBlksandmaps.pdf
Similar to last year, the City is in the process of obtaining a full copy of this grant
application.
Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Update
The FCC ’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund will award up to $20.4 billion to connect
millions of rural homes and small businesses to high -speed broadband networks in a
two -phase approach. Midco is participating in t he Phase I reverse auction , which will
target census blocks that are entirely unserved by voice and broadband with download
speeds of at least 25 Mbps. Several areas within Scandia are eligible . (See map below).
Page 1 of 1
City of Scandia
14727 209 th St. N. PO Box 128, Scandia, Minnesota 55073
Phone (651) 433 -2274 Fax (651) 433 -5112 http://www.ci.scandia.mn.us
We will know the results of both the DEED and RDOF programs by the end of the year or
early 2021.
Additionally, The Internet Action Committee is working with MidCo to get service to the
Gammelgården Museum. The installation costs to make this service connection are about
$1,900. MidCo is considering waiving this expense, even though the Gammelgården
location is outside the current 2021 DEED project area. We hope to have a final answer on
this within days.
Finally, MidCo’s current and future builds are using a “fiber deep” technology that will
eventually allow 10 Gigabit speeds as they make improvements to their network. More
details on this service opportunity are described here: https://www.midco.com/10g/
Robert Wilmers
Chairman - Scandia Internet Action Committee
robert.wilmers@icloud.com