Welcome!
The Kanabec Broadband Initiative is an ad hoc group of community organizations that recognize the importance of broadband to the economic competitiveness of Kanabec County – our residents, businesses and institutions.
We want Kanabec County to meet the statewide broadband goal of 10 to 20 Mbps to every home and business so that we can keep our Kanabec County community competitive with the rest of the state so that we can attract people and jobs to our area.
Community Broadband Kick-Off Meeting - Open to the Public
The next community meeting will be held Thursday March 7th from 1:00pm to 4:30pm
Eastwood Senior Living Life Enrichment Center
170 Valhalla Circle - Mora, MN
This meeting will be a kickoff event to learn about Kanabec County's designation as a Blandin Broadband Community. It will be an opportunity for community leaders and residents to learn about the program, help assess our community's strengths and gaps as it pertains to broadband, and begin to identify projects that may be eligible for financial support through the program. We hope to stimulate ideas for projects as well as discuss potential projects already in the formulation stage. This meeting is open to the public! Please join us!
Kanabec County / KBI Selected as a Blandin Broadband Community
DULUTH, MINNESOTA – Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012—Blandin Foundation announced today at its annual broadband conference in Duluth that Kanabec County was successful in its application to become a Blandin Broadband Community, one of only nine selected in the state.
The Blandin Broadband Communities program is an intensive, two-year partnership between Blandin Foundation and selected rural Minnesota communities. The program provides planning and organizing support to regions that demonstrate readiness and resources to either bring robust broadband adoption to communities without it, or assist already connected communities to make best use of information and services broadband can deliver.
Read the entire press release…
Robust Broadband Network Feasibility Study Results Released
In May 2012, KBI selected U-Reka Broadband Ventures as the consulting company to complete a comprehensive broadband network feasibility study covering all of Kanabec County. The study has been completed and results are being released in a series of public and stakeholder meetings during the month of October. The public is invited to attend any of the meetings to learn more about possible projects to bring broadband Internet service to all residents and businesses in Kanabec County. A special meeting will be held on Thursday, October 25th focused solely on this topic. See below for details. Please be aware that this is just a preliminary report. Many decisions are yet to be made and it will be important to hear from residents and businesses as decisions are made about where to go from here. Thanks to everyone who participated in surveys, roundtables and interviews during the study and please join us for one of the meetings and/or download the report and let us know what you think!
Download the entire report
Download the report summary slides
Information About and Examples of Broadband Needs and Uses
View the videos below for information about other Minnesota broadband initiatives, why broadband is important and samples of video content that is available with high-speed Internet connections.
Broadband for Business, Music, Movies and Photos
Broadband access is increasingly important for business and entertainment applications of audio and video. Online sources of news and information utilize rich media content. Broadband users can upload photos and videos to online sharing sites or have photos printed or organized into memory books through online services. Increasing numbers of consumers are using online services such as Netflix and Hulu to bring entertainment into their homes through media players, computers and handheld devices. Banks, health service providers, retailers and government organizations continue to add rich media applications to their online services making it convenient for consumers to get information and services online. However, access to these services is requiring higher speed broadband access to use.