Governor Mark Dayton Names 15 to Task Force on Broadband

Connect Minnesota Applauds Important Step in Increasing Vital Broadband

ST. PAUL, MN – Connect Minnesota applauds the naming today of 15 members to the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband. The Task Force is charged with developing policies to promote the expansion of broadband access in Minnesota. Governor Dayton’s stated goal is “border-to-border” high-speed Internet and cell phone access throughout Minnesota.

Connect Minnesota research has repeatedly shown the economic and quality of life benefits of expanded broadband. This announcement comes a week before the 2011 Broadband Conference co-hosted by Connect Minnesota and Blandin Foundation. The conference is taking place in Duluth on November 16 and 17.

“Connect Minnesota looks forward to supporting and informing the work of the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband in the months ahead,” said Connect Minnesota Program Manager Bill Hoffman. “The Task Force’s work on access and adoption issues will play a key role, in conjunction with efforts underway in the private and public sectors across the state, to ensure Minnesotans maximize the economic and social benefits of broadband.”

According to Governor Dayton, the Task Force will develop an action plan for identifying and correcting disparities in access and adoption of broadband in all Minnesota communities – urban, rural, and suburban. Dayton says that action plan will help ensure that homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses have access to the technology and information resources they need to thrive in a global economy.

Connect Minnesota research shows that 28 percent of the state’s residents are still not subscribing to broadband for a number of reasons.

Members of the Task Force represent a cross-section of broadband interests, including consumers, business and residential users, educational and healthcare institutions, telephone and cable companies, wireless providers, and government.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce, which houses the state’s Broadband Development Office, will work closely with the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband.

“For the short- and long-term success of our economy, every school, business, and consumer in Minnesota must have affordable, high-speed access to information and the online marketplace,” said Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman. “That is what the work of this Task Force is all about.”

Members of the Task Force are:


• Shirley Walz, Senior director of technology for Thomson Reuters
• Bernadine Joselyn, Director of Public Policy and Engagement for the Blandin Foundation
• Margaret Anderson Kelliher (Chair), Director of the Minnesota High Tech Association
• Steve Lewsader, President of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), Local 7201
• Duane Ring, President of the nine-state Midwest Region of Century Link
• Gary Evans, CEO of Hiawatha Broadband Company
• Dick Sjoberg, Sjoberg’s Cable
• Daniel Richter, President of MVTV Wireless
• Danna MacKenzie, Director of Information Systems for Cook County
• Maureen Ideker, Director of Telehealth, Essential Health
• Matt Grose, Superintendent, Deer River Public Schools
• Steve Peterson, Bloomington City Council
• Bob Bass, Bloomington, AT&T Wireless
• Keith Modglin, Information Systems Director for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
• Bao Vang, President/CEO of the Hmong-American Partnership

Download the Press Release

Minnesota Awarded $2.7 Million for Additional Broadband Mapping and Planning Initiatives

Mapping and Planning Efforts Expanded for the Full Five Year Program

St. Paul, MN — The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded Connect Minnesota approximately $2.7 million, under the State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program (SBDD), to further implement broadband initiatives over the original five-year award period.

The additional Recovery Act funding will allow mapping efforts under the SBDD program to continue for three additional years, while the program also focuses on projects that relate to broadband planning activities, such as the identification of barriers to the adoption of broadband service and information technology services.

“This program will meet NTIA’s intent for developing high-quality projects designed to gather granular data on broadband availability, technology, speed, and infrastructure across the state,” according to Brian Mefford, CEO of Connected Nation, Connect Minnesota’s parent organization. “Through this project Connect Minnesota will support the work of the 15 member Minnesota Broadband Advisory Task Force in carrying out its functions, including the production of its annual progress report benchmarking progress toward meeting Minnesota’s 2015 broadband goals of a minimum of 10-20 MB to all residents and businesses.”

Connect Minnesota will continue to engage in broadband data collection activities that will capture complete and up-to-date datasets from the state’s broadband providers and will result in regularly-scheduled updates and further enhancements to the state’s interactive broadband map.

Under the SBDD program, the Connect Minnesota initiative released its first iteration of the broadband map in May 2010, and this funding will allow the state to prioritize and track progress over a longer period of time. This data will populate the comprehensive, interactive, and searchable national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to create and make publicly available by February 17, 2011.

As the designated entity for broadband mapping in the North Star State, Connect Minnesota is a public-private partnership working to unite local governments, businesses, and citizens in the goal of increasing broadband service in the state’s underserved areas.

To access a summary of the grant project please visit http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/grantee/connected-nation-minnesota.

Download press release