Governor Mark Dayton is urging the Republican-controlled legislature to approve his plan for 30 million dollars to expand high speed Internet access in Greater Minnesota. Dayton says, “If you want people to be able to choose to live in more rural parts of our state, which many people do, then you have to provide them with access to the world. And if you do that, they can run a small business from their home.”
Officials estimate about 200 thousand Minnesotans don’t have high-speed Internet access. Thirteen counties have less than half of households with access to broadband and Yellow Medicine County is the least-served. Officials say there’s also substandard Internet service in some areas of northwest Minnesota and particular challenges in the corridor north of the Twin Cities.