'Still a lot more to do' as Minnesota lawmakers push for border-to-border broadband
Broadband deployment advocates asked lawmakers to "back a proposal to boost state funding to fill gaps in internet coverage in pockets of rural Minnesota." The requests came a day after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz proposed spending $70 million to expand high-speed internet access across the state by 2022. In addition, as part of the goal to get "border-to-border" broadband by 2022, a state grant program has spent $85 billion to support 110 broadband projects across the state. Danna MacKenzie, executive director of the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development, said that while the match program "has offered a good start in patching together broadband access…there’s still work to be done to reach some of the most remote areas of the state."