So some locals were optimistic when, in 2020, LTD Broadband, a company with Minnesota ties, received more than a billion dollars in federal funding to provide broadband to rural areas like Le Sueur County. Because of the provisional grant, the county found itself shut out of state funding for its own programs because of possible overlap with LTD territories — even though officials in Le Sueur worried the company’s efforts would fail.

LTD’s plans fell apart in 2022 after state and federal regulators revoked key licenses and canceled grants after determining the company couldn’t fulfill its promises.

The result has been missed opportunities for the county, said Barbara Droher Kline, a financial planner and rural broadband consultant for Le Sueur County. She and other broadband advocates said they hope a new federal law will force the U.S. government to do a better job vetting broadband internet providers and their promises.

The Rural Broadband Protection Act, introduced by U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, directs the Federal Communications Commission to provide more thorough scrutiny.

“The new FCC vetting process will confirm that providers have the ability — financially, technically and operationally — to follow through with their commitments,” Klobuchar said in a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune. “This will prevent situations where companies that win federal funding to deploy rural broadband cannot actually deliver service.”

Advocates say the impetus for the law came from the fallout with LTD. The company, which rebranded in 2023 and is now known as GigFire, did not respond to requests for comment.

Today, Congresswoman Valerie Foushee (NC-04) introduced the State and Local Public Sector Innovation Act, which would establish a federal grant program through the U.S. Department of Commerce to modernize the technology infrastructure utilized by state and local governments to improve security and efficacy of public services.

“Modernizing public institutions and utilizing technology to improve the administration of public services is a necessity in today’s growing digital age. While technology continues to advance at a rapid rate, state and local governments are too often left behind without the proper infrastructure and training to keep up,” said Congresswoman Valerie Foushee (NC-04). “Many jurisdictions hoping to make these improvements simply lack the funding required to properly implement technological advances that will help improve public services. I’m proud to introduce the State and Local Public Sector Innovation Act to ensure our federal government is providing proper support to state and local governments seeking to modernize their technology infrastructure.”

“These proposed investments would protect critical infrastructure and individual privacy, optimize state resources, and ensure local governments can provide a meaningful digital experience,” said N.C. Department of Information Technology Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Nate Denny.

Specifically, the State and Local Public Sector Innovation Act would:

• Establish a grant program which would provide state and local government’s technology departments to modernize technology utilized by government entities.

• Grant funds can be utilized to purchase or upgrade existing technology and related infrastructure to upgrade cybersecurity systems, hire staff, update permitting processes to facilitate further modernization, and train staff to support technology modernization.

• 70% of grant funds provided to a state are required to be dispersed to local governments under the state jurisdictions.

• The Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce will allocate a portion of funding for regulatory enforcement.

The State and Local Public Sector Innovation Act is endorsed by the National Association of Counties.

The full bill text of the State and Local Public Sector Innovation Act is available here.

Arvig has announced the promotion of Ben Wiechman to Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Wiechman, who previously served as the Director of Network Strategy and Engineering, will now provide overall leadership for Arvig’s technology strategy—ensuring that its broadband network, systems, and technology investments are secure, reliable, and scalable for the future.

Prior to his appointment as CTO, Wiechman led Arvig’s network engineering and service delivery teams.

MinnPost reports…

“Do you know you can go on your phone and there’s this game where you can see the old Rondo and the new Rondo?”

It’s called the “Rondo-verse” – a video game aiming to give a sense not only of historic Rondo, but also its present-day vibrancy.

As co-creator Benny Roberts said, “It’s important for me that the community that I come from and was raised in isn’t defined by the thing that happened to it.”

The project is a collaboration between Jolie Davis, a sophomore biology major at Macalester College and Roberts, the executive director of Rondo’s Hallie Q. Brown Community Center.

Using funding from the center’s historical archive program, Roberts was able to hire Davis for 10 weeks and figure out how to showcase Rondo in a unique way.

Davis suggested using Roblox – a platform where users can create their own video games and experiences. Roberts initially pitched The Sims, but acknowledged that Roblox was the right call given its wild popularity with kids and teenagers.

“The Sims feels like my generation,” he said, laughing.

To help create a vision of Rondo’s history, they worked with a group of about 15 community elders – people who knew what it was like to live, work and grow up in Rondo first hand.

Data centers (including micro-scale data centers) and AI were hot topics in both presentations.

Here’s the agenda with questions and high level notes:

10:00 a.m. – 10:05 a.m. Welcome from Teddy Bekele, Chair, Minnesota Governor’s Task Force on Broadband and approval of minutes from February and April Task Force meetings.

10:05 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Open the floor for Task Force member share-out from the April 29 in-person meeting: did any topics come up in discussion that should be considered for the annual report; are there any speakers that would be helpful to hear from at future Task Force meetings?

• People like line extension

10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Presentation from Godfrey Enjady (President, National Tribal Telecommunications Association) on the Connect New Mexico Broadband Tribal Working Group and overview of leadership on the National Tribal Telecommunications Association 2026 NTTA Broadband Midwest Regional Summit.

• Looking at AI for language preservation
• Q: There’s a New Mexico Task Force – is there also an Office of Broadband Development?
  Yes, there are two. OBAE and another
• You are working on microdata centers. Can you tell us more?
  The hyper-scalers are getting all of the attention and not good attention. So we’re working on how we can provide services to the tribes. We’re looking at private networks.
• DEED person says – nice hear to hear about using spiritual ways to answer community questions.
  We like to use stories.

10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Presentation from Anis Khemakhem (Chief Commercial Officer, Clearfield Inc.) on workforce development and BABA compliance and its practical implications on broadband deployment.

• Nice training initiative. We work on recommendations to the Governor. How can we help you?
  Encourage folks to share the information.

11:25 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Office of Broadband Development (OBD) overview and updates from Bree Maki (Executive Director, OBD).

• Thanks to everyone came to the big conference – it was sold out
• BEAD – continuing to work on finalizing the contract and contracts with providers and environmental planning. There have been some minor location changes.
• No new info on non-deployment dollars. Had to look at all technologies equally. There is $300 million in unspent.
• There are supply line issues with BEAD. OBD had a call with local providers and NTIA.
• Providers should put in BEAD waivers now – for BABA and other.
• Also working on definition of onerous AI. MN Legislation wrapped but nothing deemed onerous by OBD. (One related to age verification could be an issue.)
• There are a couple of providers who are eager to get going. Others are watching carefully.
• There are three providers who have left BEAD. Working on finding a provider for those locations. Working on tribal consent.
• Closed 39 old grant projects; added 28 new ones. Lots of site monitoring.
• Annual reports will be coming out June 30
• Line Extension: closing Line Extension 4 at 1pm on May 22. This is from money that was shifted from other areas and MDE.
• Treasury put out some project guidance that talked about extension of capital funds – depending on project. Deadline is July 31.

11:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Open the floor to other business, next meeting Thursday June 18 (virtual), and meeting wrap-up.

Today, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, and U.S. Representative Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) introduced the bicameral Digital Opportunity Foundation Act of 2026. This legislation would establish a nonprofit foundation that would leverage public and private investments to expand digital opportunity nationwide, ensuring that people can access, adopt, and effectively use modern digital tools, broadband, and other emerging technologies. The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.).

The Foundation for Digital Opportunity will supplement the work of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to award grants, support research, provide training and education, engage with stakeholders, collect data, and promote policies that improve digital opportunities. The Foundation will be governed by a Board of experts specializing in digital opportunity, technology, and telecommunications, representing diverse communities across the United States.

NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth isn’t playing “Wisconsin Nice” with that state’s broadband leadership, including retiring Gov. Tony Evers (D). NTIA is pushing back on Wisconsin’s recent claim that tens of thousands of homes will remain unserved as the state launches a new $60 million, state-funded Internet grant round designed to plug holes in its broadband map. In a press release on May 19, Evers said the spending was needed because of NTIA’s decision, engineered by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in June 2025, to abandon the Biden administration’s expensive fiber preference in favor of technological neutrality in the $42.45 billion BEAD program.

A bright spot in household budgets. In 2025, internet service continued to stand apart from other household costs, with prices declining for a service that runs faster than ever.
Prices decline while speeds accelerate. USTelecom’s annual Broadband Pricing Index (BPI)1 finds that year over year, real prices for the most popular internet services (100–940 Mbps) fell 6.0%, while gigabit plans declined 4.9%.2 Over the longer term, prices for the internet services most households buy today have fallen 43.6% since
2014,3 even as other mainstay consumer goods and services have risen 36%. Average download speeds, meanwhile, have surged 21.9% year over year and 145% since 2014.
The deepest savings are reaching the most price-sensitive households. For the first time, this year’s report breaks out pricing across three speed bands within the 100–940 Mbps range. Prices fell in every tier, with entry-level plans (100–249 Mbps) posting the steepest one-year decline—down 17.2% in real terms—while mid range plans (250–499 Mbps) fell 8.3% and higher-speed plans (500 940 Mbps) declined 12.6% when adjusted for inflation.
The trend of consumers choosing faster plans at lower cost likely masks steeper price declines. This report’s findings are conservative given that many households are taking advantage of declining prices to upgrade to faster internet plans. According to the latest FCC data, gigabit subscriptions have grown nearly fivefold since 2020.4 The BPI’s methodology does not account for consumers choosing to upgrade to faster service. As a result, the true pricing gains to consumers are likely greater than this index alone captures..
Competition and private investment are powering these gains. Fierce competition among diverse internet service providers—backed by tens of billions of dollars in private capital flowing into broadband networks each year—sustains the favorable consumer trend of declining prices and accelerating speeds.
Consumers confirm the value proposition. In a recent national poll, just 2% of likely voters selected home internet service among their top two household cost concerns. In fact, internet price concerns ranked
the lowest of any category surveyed, behind groceries (39%), health insurance (31%), housing (30%), and gas prices (25%).6 Declining prices and rising performance are showing up not just in the data, but in how Americans experience their internet service.
A healthy internet market in practice. Heated competition, strong private investment and declining prices boost household purchasing power, spur broader adoption of high-speed internet, and support a strong digital foundation for what comes next

Agenda: Broadband Task Force, May Meeting

Date: 05/21/2026

Virtual Meeting Join the meeting now.

· Meeting ID and Pass Code: 264 866 276 637 50 and nR3hC3Lr

· Dial in by phone: +1 651-395-7448,,157228567# · Join on a video conferencing device: Tenant key, mn@m.webex.com. Video ID: 112 567 815 8

Meeting Agenda

10:00 a.m. – 10:05 a.m.

Welcome from Teddy Bekele, Chair, Minnesota Governor’s Task Force on Broadband and approval of minutes from February and April Task Force meetings.

10:05 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Open the floor for Task Force member share-out from the April 29 in-person meeting: did any topics come up in discussion that should be considered for the annual report; are there any speakers that would be helpful to hear from at future Task Force meetings?

10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Presentation from Godfrey Enjady (President, National Tribal Telecommunications Association) on the Connect New Mexico Broadband Tribal Working Group and overview of leadership on the National Tribal Telecommunications Association 2026 NTTA Broadband Midwest Regional Summit.

10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Presentation from Anis Khemakhem (Chief Commercial Officer, Clearfield Inc.) on workforce development and BABA compliance and its practical implications on broadband deployment.

11:15 a.m. – 11:25 a.m., Break

11:25 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Office of Broadband Development (OBD) overview and updates from Bree Maki (Executive Director, OBD).

11:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Open the floor to other business, next meeting Thursday June 18 (virtual), and meeting wrap-up.

Broadband Matters: Office of Broadband Development Updates

• Line Extension Connection Program, Round 5 bidding window closes May 22
• Broadband Task Force, May meeting plans
• Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) updates

Line Extension Connection Program, Round 5 bidding window closes May 22

The Round 5 Provider Bidding Application and Line Extension Program Guide, with guidance for the fast-tracked round are available on the Line Extension Connection Program webpage.

The bidding window for the fast-tracked Round 5 opened April 22 and bids are due May 22, 2026 by 1:30 p.m. CT.

Registration is open for residents and businesses for future rounds of the program and OBD expects to announce a sixth round of the program with standard timelines using state funds later in 2026.

More information and registration are available on the Line Extension Connection Program webpage. For assistance completing the application or to request a paper form to complete, please call 651-259-7610 or email DEED.broadband@state.mn.us.

Broadband Task Force, May meeting plans

The Broadband Task Force will meet virtually on Thursday May 21 at 10 a.m. CT.

The May meeting will feature two Tribal broadband experts who will address topics on workforce development, supply chain issues, and broadband expansion: Godfrey Enjady (President of the National Tribal Telecommunications Association-NTTA) and Anis Khemakhem (Chief Commercial Officer at Clearfield Inc.).

• NTTA advocates for its member telephone companies and supports efforts to deliver modern telecommunications services to Tribal lands.
• Clearfield, Inc. launched the Tribal Broadband Training Initiative, providing a no-cost Fiber Optic Technician Course to Native American communities. The program aims to create pathways to living-wage careers and connect Tribal lands with high-speed fiber broadband. Clearfield also complies with Build America Buy America (BABA) and manufactures fiber optic connectivity and management products.

The meeting is virtual and open to the public. The meeting agenda with Teams link to join is available on the Broadband Task Force webpage.

Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) updates

OBD continues to work on contracting and environmental review. Additional and updated resources on the OBD BEAD webpage include:

• BABA Self-Certification List for BEAD from NTIA’s BABA Compliance and Self Certification guidance page.
• Webinars from the April 2026 Broadband Development Training Series to support environmental permitting and reviews efforts are posted on the OBD Webinars and Recorded Events webpage.
• The Minnesota BEAD Contractor Directory continues to be updated regularly with submissions. More information on this directory is available on the OBD BEAD webpage.

OBD appreciates its ongoing partnerships across community, regional, state, and federal levels and the people, places, and events our office gets to in small ways be apart of and we will be featuring shared photos over the summer to recognize and appreciate this impact.