TECHdotMN: News about Minnesota Startups

Fresh off the heels of Lake County’s  $65m ARRA FTTP “palate cleansing” funding freefall and subsequent management restructure, comes this latest twist reported by  StimulatingBroadband.com:

Mediacom Asks USDA Inspector General for Federal Probe of Lake County, MN Broadband Award

“Cable operator Mediacom has filed a complaint with the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,  asking for a federal probe of the $66.5 million broadband stimulus grant/loan package awarded to Lake County, Minnesota. This, the first publicly disclosed filing about the broadband stimulus program issued to Agriculture’s Inspector General, comes as the new Republican leadership of Congress is pushing federal IGs to more rigorously examine stimulus program irregularities.”

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Interestingly, this type of activity may be a harbinger of things to come…

Via Lake County News Chronicle

“The Lake County Board of Commissioners dumped the two teams planning its fiber optic broadband project Tuesday, putting the $70 million project into temporary freefall until other management and construction firms can be found.

County officials called it a cleansing of the palette Tuesday and said the project was still on track. Board members expect to hire another management team within the next two weeks.”

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Via News Release

“ADC (NASDAQ: ADCT), a leading supplier of infrastructure solutions for fiber deployments, announced today that Halstad Telephone Company (HTC), a three-time winner of stimulus funding awards provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, has selected ADC’s fiber connectivity and management solutions for its FTTP network. The network deployment, which began early this year and is expected to be completed mid-2011, includes residences and businesses in Hillsboro, N.D., and six exchanges in and around Halstad, Minnesota.”

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Last week Nonprofit Internet provider MVTV Wireless completed the installation of five new wireless access points throughout five different towns  in west central Minnesota — Spicer, New London, Wabasso, Jeffers and Windom — that represent an estimated 1,500 new subscribers.

Considered phase one of four, the federally funded ARRA project is aimed at upgrading the network’s entire existing broadband infrastructure from 20 meg to 100 meg back hauls and installing 34 new WiMax access points to serve new communities covering approximately 8,000 square miles in west and south central Minnesota.  The organization currently has 66 access points spanning approximately 12,000 square miles; when all is said and done, plans are to provide last mile service to an additional 53,000 Minnesotans, 479 business and 200 critical care facilities.

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Via News Release

“This approximately $66.3 million award, matched by $3.5 million in private contribution, will allow Lake County to offer FTTP advanced voice, video and data services to every home and business in Lake and eastern Saint Louis Counties.

Approximately 37,000 people stand to benefit, as do roughly 1,000 businesses and 98 community institutions. In addition to the 510 jobs Lake County estimates this project will create upfront, it will provide a foundation for economic growth and job creation for decades to come.”

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via HometownSource.com

“U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) today announced  $23,666,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for three broadband projects in Minnesota: Sjoberg’s, Inc. ($866k),  Carver County ($6m) and Enventis Telecom (HickoryTech $16.8m).

The funds, administered by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, will expand broadband access and adoption to areas of Minnesota that are currently underserved.”

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In December 2009, it was announced that The University of Minnesota’s Urban Research and Outreach Engagement Center (UROC) would be the recipient of $2,862,333 in federal funds while simultaneously contributing $741,000 of its own capital towards developing and improving 11 key computer labs (aka public computing centers or PCC’s) throughout under served neighborhoods in the Twin Cities as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The grant was part of a nationwide $10.5b earmarked for communications, information, and security technologies.  At the time, it was Minnesota’s first award, the only one given to a university and the largest grant of its type – designed to address the digital divide in key geographic/socioeconomic areas through access and education.

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By Ann Treacy, Blandin Foundation

“There were 66 awards announced; 3 were based/focused on Minnesota and one is a national program. The quick math indicates that $16.4 million of ARRA funds are coming into the state for the 3 Minnesota-based projects: Zayo Bandwidth (13.4), Federated Telephone Cooperative ($1.3 million) and Leech Lake Reservation ($1.7 million)”

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By Ann Treacy, Blandin Foundation

“Yesterday Brent Legg from Connected Nation gave a presentation to the Minnesota Commerce and Labor Committee Telecom Regulation and Infrastructure Division. (You can download audio of the meeting.) As you may recall, Connect Minnesota, a subsidiary of Connected Nation, received almost $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a five-year period in Minnesota from the NTIA as part of the ARRA broadband funding. Brent was kind enough to share his presentation with me. It’s a sneak preview of sorts since they will be doing a more formal launch of their finding in two weeks.”

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Learn more about Ann Treacy and review Minnesota’s Broadband news archive.

Via MVTV Wireless,

“34 Additional Wireless (WiMAX) Access Points Coming to West Central and South Central Minnesota!

(MVTV Wireless) Minnesota Valley Television Improvement Corporation: The Minnesota Wireless Expansion Project; $562,776 loan and $562,776 grant, and $281,388 of private investment. The funding will provide a two-way broadband internet network to unserved and underserved areas of west central and south central Minnesota, providing 34 additional wireless (WiMAX) access points.”

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Ann Treacy from The Blandin Foundation also reports on the 2nd recipient  as of late – technically, the fourth in Minnesota with respect to the first two beneficiaries.

“Northeast Service Cooperative: The Northeast Minnesota Middle Mile Project; $21,749,110 loan and $21,749,110 grant. The funding will provide middle-mile, dark fiber, wavelength services to private-sector providers in rural areas of northeast Minnesota.”

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