Minnesota’s push for statewide broadband access

@Mark Ollig

For many rural Minnesotans, accessing healthcare through telehealth is difficult, or sometimes impossible, due to slow internet speeds and a shortage of nearby clinics or doctors.

I recently read the 2024 annual report from the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development (OBD), published Jan. 15, 2025.

The report highlights the need to expand broadband internet access in underserved areas, as recommended by the Minnesota Department of Health, to enhance telehealth service availability.

In March 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) redefined broadband standards as having a minimum download speed of 100 mbps and an upload speed of 20 mbps.

The 2024 OBD report reveals that 89,000 households in Minnesota do not have access to the 100/20 mbps broadband standard.

Additionally, 143,000 households lack access to the older 25/3 mbps benchmark.

According to table three on page 17 of the report, while 99.57% of metro households meet the 100/20 mbps goal, only 91.61% of households in greater Minnesota do.

You can read the OBD report athttps://bit.ly/4imuVSj. 

The FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ended June 1, 2024, affecting 245,000 low-income households in Minnesota.

The loss of congressional ACP funding has further limited broadband access for Minnesota’s low-income residents, seniors, rural communities, and indigenous tribal nations.

Introduced March 1, 2024, and currently under legislative review, Minnesota Senate File (SF) 2889 aims to modernize broadband development and promote digital equity throughout the state.

The SF 2889 bill stresses digital inclusion and proposes renaming the state’s broadband office to the ‘Office of Broadband Development and Digital Equity,’ dedicating this office to coordinating these efforts.

Here’s a closer look at what SF 2889 outlines.

Section one amends data privacy rules concerning internet service provider data shared with the state’s broadband office and officially renames that office as the Office of Broadband Development and Digital Equity.

Section two reinforces this by amending the office’s primary statute to reflect the new name and its expanded focus on broadband adoption and digital inclusion for underserved populations.

It also details the office’s role in statewide planning and adds requirements for enrollment data and equity recommendations in annual reports.

Section three makes a conforming amendment to section 116J.391, subdivision one, for consistency with the office’s updated name and focus.

Section four updates key Broadband Grant Program definitions, importantly setting the “underserved areas” benchmark at the modern 100 mbps download / 20 mbps upload standard and defining qualifying wireless services as “served.”

Section five amends section 116J.395 to revise the priorities of the border-to-border Broadband Grant Program.

It requires that at least 50% of its funds go to projects meeting workforce standards, thereby linking broadband expansion with job creation.

Section seven introduces a grant program for apartments and manufactured home parks, focused on improving broadband access and digital equity.

The program finances infrastructure upgrades, affordable services, and digital inclusion initiatives, targeting high-need areas.

Section eight amends the existing statute (116J.397) for broadband data collection and mapping.

The office continues its ongoing work under this statute, which has been required since 2016.

This includes independent data collection and verification, analysis for investment planning, adoption surveys, and the production of annual public service availability maps, which are due each April 15.

Section nine establishes clear statewide goals for 2028: 95% of households should have broadband, 70% of eligible households should use service discounts, and 95% should own a computer or similar device for accessing the internet.

Minnesota SF 2889 has been referred to the Senate Agriculture, Veterans, Broadband, and Rural Development Committee.

You can follow its progress and read the full text of the bill on the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes: .

The $42.45 billion federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and including funding for broadband internet to states, faces potential rollout delays nationwide.

Minnesota, which was allocated $651.8 million from BEAD, is concerned these delays will impact the deployment of broadband projects in our state.

Seeking to prevent funding holdups, our state’s broadband office formally made its concerns known to the US Commerce Department in early April of this year.

Other states have also raised concerns.

The success of broadband projects depends not only on securing funding but also on safely deploying a qualified workforce.

Minnesota Statute 326B.198 establishes the Safety-Qualified Underground Telecommunications Installer Certification Program through the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) to enhance safety.

Installers must complete 40 hours of training, pass an exam, and take a four-hour refresher every three years.

At least two certified installers are required for horizontal directional drilling (HDD) of fiber optic cables.

The certification starts July 1 of this year in the Twin Cities and Jan. 1, 2026, for the rest of Minnesota, with DLI-approved training programs.

You can read Minnesota Statute 326B.198 at .

Many decades ago, while working at the Winsted Telephone Company, my brother and I regularly buried telephone cables beneath highways and driveways.

We used a Case Davis Fleetline 40+4 trencher, equipped with a Ditch Witch Hydro-Boring unit powered by the Case’s hydraulic system.

Ten-foot sections of one-inch internal diameter pipe were connected with clips and then pushed forward while being rotated to bore a tunnel under the driveway or highway.

Once the tunnel bore was complete, we attached a rope to the end of the pipe string and used it to pull the pipes back out, leaving the rope running through the tunnel.

Then, we secured the telephone cable to the end of that rope using a wire mesh grip (often called a cable sock).

We used the trencher to pull the rope, which drew the cable through the tunnel.

Then, we pulled enough cable to reach the nearest ground-level pedestal, where it was spliced.

Minnesota is working to provide broadband access in rural and underserved areas.

Affordable broadband internet should be available to everyone.

McLeod County - per MN Broadband data (2024)

AI technology: transforming our digital landscape

@Mark Ollig

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of our daily lives, evident in everything from web searches to work applications and social media feeds.

Today, AI technology enhances digital assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, improves navigation in apps like Google Maps with real-time data, and enables intuitive chatbot interactions.

Netflix uses AI to personalize recommendations and optimize content by analyzing user data.

AI is increasingly used in creative applications like Adobe’s Firefly, which generates images from text prompts, and phone cameras that enhance photos automatically.

Tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, FaceApp (FaceApp Technology Limited), Lensa (Prisma Labs, Inc.), and Canva (Canva Pty. Ltd.) showcase AI’s design modification capabilities.

Home automation is advancing with AI operating within our smart devices.

In healthcare, AI systems assist with medical diagnostics and pharmaceutical development and in hospitals with real-time tracking of patient vital signs.

The FDA has approved nearly 1,000 AI devices that help doctors with triage and treatment decisions.

Doctors also use AI models like Google’s Gemini to review complex cases and confirm diagnoses.

Newsrooms are using AI to enhance reporting, but according to research from the University of Minnesota and Poynter, nearly 50% of Americans are skeptical about AI-generated news.

AI is powering creative fields such as music and art and supports language translation with services like Google Translate and DeepL Translator.

In February of this year, the Pew Research Center published a survey based on data from October 2024.

It revealed that American workers have mixed feelings about AI’s growing role in the workplace, particularly with tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

While some express hope, many are concerned about job security and the potential for job losses due to automation and misinformation.

I fall somewhere between hopeful and cautious.

Most Pew survey respondents worry more about job losses rather than new opportunities created by AI, although workers in IT and finance tend to be more optimistic.

The survey shows that desk-based workers frequently use AI chatbots for research and writing, while those in labor-intensive jobs find them less beneficial.

Younger workers tasked with research and editing are actively using AI.

Overall, the workforce remains cautious about AI, especially regarding job security.

Based on my prior experience in telecommunications, AI is being used to enhance operational efficiency by monitoring data and voice traffic, recommending optimal routing, and optimizing network hardware efficiency.

AI also aids in predictive telecom network maintenance, traffic management, and security.

Additionally, AI supports the operation of 5G platforms, assists with software updates for telecom equipment, and improves network reliability through early detection and correction of operating system platform fault issues.

The US government is actively involved in artificial intelligence.

President Trump signed Executive Order 14179 Jan. 23 of this year, titled “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” to promote innovation and competitiveness in AI.

Section 1 of Executive Order 14179 says, “With the right government policies, we can solidify our position as the global leader in AI and secure a brighter future for all Americans.”

Executive Order 14179 can be found at .

Here is a list of popular AI tools for this year:

Google Gemini Advanced: a conversational AI assistant by Google designed to help with research, writing, and answering online questions – .

ChatGPT: a tool by OpenAI that assists with writing, coding, productivity, and creative tasks – .

Grammarly: an AI-powered writing assistant that improves grammar, punctuation, clarity, and tone in real-time –https://www.grammarly.com.

DeepL Translator: developed by DeepL SE, this AI tool uses neural networks to produce high-quality translations in business, multilingual communication, and document translation – .

Many AI tools, such as Google Gemini Advanced and ChatGPT, serve both personal and professional needs –  and .

GitHub Copilot: a Microsoft subsidiary in partnership with OpenAI, this AI tool assists developers by suggesting code and functions – .

Microsoft 365 Copilot: integrates AI into Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and more for productivity and automation – .

Grammarly: widely used in business settings for professional writing and editing – .

The global AI market encompasses economic activity related to the development, distribution, and utilization of AI tools and services.

This market includes US platforms like Google Gemini Advanced, ChatGPT, Copilot, GitHub, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Grammarly, and DeepL Translator, as well as AI research and model development companies such as OpenAI.

China represents a large share of the global AI market. As of early 2024, it had more than 4,500 AI companies, including China-owned and based companies Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Huawei.

According to Statista, the projected US dollar amount generated for the AI market this year will be $243.7 billion.

They project it to be around $826.7 billion by 2030, with some estimates reaching as high as $1.81 trillion.

One Forbes article predicts a significant increase in human interaction with AIs by 2030, with AIs serving as personal assistants, tutors, counselors, drivers, and more.

In the decades to come, I envision a future in which AI will reach the milestone of becoming an artificial general intelligence (AGI) with self-awareness. The thought is both fascinating and a bit unsettling.

The rapid advancements in AI continue to transform our digital landscape.

Gemini Advanced AI created these two images
of what it thinks of AI as 

Western Electric’s model 1317 magneto wall phone

@Mark Ollig

From the early 1900s through the 1930s, magneto telephones were a familiar fixture in rural homes and farms.

These wooden telephone cabinets operated on internal dry-cell batteries to power their electrical speech talk paths.

Unlike cities with telephone companies using centralized common-battery power and operator switchboards, rural areas relied on local individuals to maintain and troubleshoot the magneto telephones and iron wire pole lines supporting multiple party-line connections.

In 1907, Western Electric introduced the model 1317 magneto wall phone.

The 1317 used a hand-cranked magneto to send a ringing current to alert a switchboard operator or a neighbor’s telephone on the same party line.

Cranking the handle powered the internal generator, producing a 70 to 100V AC signal, which allowed users to signal a switchboard operator or ring other subscribers on a shared party line.

The 1317 operated on large dry cell batteries, typically using two or three No. 6 cells, each providing 1.5 volts DC. These batteries were housed inside the phone’s wooden cabinet.

The two dry cells in my 1925 Western Electric model 1317 are labeled “Eveready Columbia gray label long life telephone cell,” manufactured by National Carbon in the USA.

A No. 6 dry cell battery typically weighs between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds and provides direct current.

It is used as the talk battery needed to power the carbon microphone in local battery telephones, such as the Western Electric model 1317.

The No. 6 dry cell battery uses zinc-carbon chemistry. Its positive electrode is a carbon rod, and its negative electrode is a zinc container. These are surrounded by an electrolyte paste of ammonium chloride and zinc chloride in water.

A “dry cell” contains an electrolyte in a moist paste, unlike a “wet cell,” which has a liquid. “Dry” means it’s non-spillable, not completely water-free.

Early single-wire telephone systems utilized the earth as a return path, requiring a proper ground connection at each subscriber’s location.

In the late 1920s and 1930s, the rise of power lines and electrical infrastructure caused electromagnetic interference in telephone lines, leading to unwanted noise during calls.

Telephone companies then began transitioning to two-wire metallic circuits, which used a dedicated pair of wires for telephone connections and eliminated the need for an earth return path.

The model 1317 telephone featured a carbon granule transmitter mouthpiece on an adjustable metal arm, typically made of nickel-plated brass.

A person raised or lowered the transmitter arm to speak comfortably. The hand crank rang other phones or the operator.

The telephone’s wooden cabinet featured a compartment designed to hold the large No. 6 dry cells that powered the carbon transmitter.

A telephone subscriber used a hand crank to power the magneto for signaling. The term “magneto” refers to this hand-operated generator.

The model 1317 typically used solid oak for the cabinet with dovetailed joints, a varnish finish, and nickel-plated trim.

It had a picture-frame front door, an arched-top backboard, and a sloping writing shelf.

Two external, nickel-plated brass gongs at the top served as the ringer.

The Western Electric 1317 included a separate corded handheld receiver, typically made of hard rubber or Bakelite, a hard plastic, which hung on a nickel-plated hook switch on the left side of the cabinet.

Lifting the receiver off the hook connects the phone’s speech circuit and disconnects the ringer circuit (except when the magneto is cranked).

Hanging up the receiver disconnected the talking circuit and reconnected the ringing circuit.

The magneto generator, ringer coils, hammer assembly, induction coil, and wiring terminals were inside the telephone’s wooden cabinet box.

To make a call, the user energetically cranked the hand crank for a few seconds, generating voltage from the magneto to ring/signal the operator switchboard.

The party being called used a code system made up of various numbers of long and short rings to signal a particular subscriber the caller wanted to talk to.

In 1907, some 16 people in Winsted constructed a wired telephone party line using magneto phones powered by internal batteries.

Additional party lines were later added, including lines outside the city limits.

By 1913, Winsted had 30 telephones networked together on various party lines and had also installed a switchboard with an operator.

In 1917, the Winsted Telephone Company was established with 50 subscribers.

The Winsted Telephone Company was incorporated April 10, 1920. This event occurred 105 years ago yesterday.

Loren Joseph Ollig purchased the stock in the Winsted Telephone Company and took ownership Aug. 31, 1927.

In 1931, Wallace N. King of Waverly purchased the Winsted Telephone Company, and in 1932, his daughter, Marie Antoinette, and her husband, Mathew Ollig, took ownership and managed the company’s daily operations.

During the 1930s, independent telephone companies faced many challenges, including the need for 24/7 operators to run the town’s switchboard.

They also installed and maintained miles of wired pole lines and wired homes and businesses for telephones, including magneto telephones that required regular battery replacements before common-battery offices were installed.

My 100-year-old Western Electric model 1317 magneto wall phone represents a bygone era; it served as a reliable means of communication for many years.

Captain Kirk’s communicator inspired Cooper’s vision

@Mark Ollig

Southwestern Bell launched its mobile telephone service (MTS) June 17, 1946, in St. Louis, MO.

Using a centralized radio network requiring operator assistance, MTS connects calls between vehicles and the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

The system primarily targeted commercial subscribers such as trucking companies, newspapers, and taxis.

The mobile installation required two large boxes containing the radio transmitting and receiving units fitted in the car’s trunk, a two-foot roof antenna, and a push-to-talk handset.

Tests showed call quality as reportedly “perfectly clear.”

Still, the MTS system had a significant limitation: it could only handle three simultaneous calls in St. Louis and had a limited number of subscribers. Users had to wait for an available channel, similar to a shared telephone party line.

According to newspaper articles from May 1946, the service had a monthly $15 charge, $25 for installation, and 30 to 40 cents for three-minute local calls.

In 1947, Bell Labs engineer Douglas H. Ring proposed the cellular concept to support more simultaneous private calls.

This concept involved small, low-power cells with “channel reuse,” replacing single high-power radio transmitters covering large geographical areas.

Ring suggested creating a network of smaller cells, each covering about 0.6 miles, using low-power transmitters on specific radio channels.

Implementing this mobile network needed seamless handoffs between cells as users moved, a challenge being studied by Bell Labs engineers.

This cellular approach was quite different from using a single high-power radio transmitter.

Advancements in semiconductors in the 1950s and 1960s transitioned to solid-state components, paving the way for microelectronics and speeding up the development of cellular technology in the 1970s.

Motorola began prototype work on a cellphone in late December 1972, involving about 22 engineers led by Don Linder. The work merged technologies such as integrated circuits, antennas, and duplexers.

Martin Cooper, an electrical engineer and Motorola’s communications division general manager, attracted attention on Sixth Avenue, New York City, blocks from Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, as he spoke into what looked like a brick held to his ear April 3, 1973.

This “brick” was a prototype Motorola cellular telephone handset around nine to 11 inches long and weighing roughly 2.5 to three pounds.

Cooper had envisioned a portable communications device that could operate from any location and has cited the Star Trek communicator Captain Kirk used (designed by Wah Ming Chang) as his inspiration.

Cooper used the Motorola cellphone (with a 30-minute battery life) to call Joel Engel, head of AT&T’s Bell Labs cellular telephone program.

Engel was leading Bell Labs’ development of the elementary architecture for cellular telephony.

“Joel, I’m calling you from a cellular phone, a real cellular phone, a personal, handheld, portable cellular phone,” Cooper said to Engel.

Engel was reportedly surprised by Cooper’s claim and responded politely, while some accounts suggest he was less than thrilled. However, Engel has since acknowledged Cooper’s calls’ significance.

While AT&T’s Bell Labs pioneered cellular technology concepts used by Cooper, Motorola designed and constructed the portable cellular telephone and its internal technology.

For this first cellular phone call in New York City, Cooper used a limited, experimental cellular network, likely with a single-cell site and a temporary base station featuring a radio transceiver and antenna on specific UHF frequencies connected to the PSTN.

It was a simple telephony system – similar to the cordless phones used in the 1980s, which had their base unit plugged into a modular telephone jack.

In 1982, the FCC authorized commercial cellular networking in the US.

The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, the world’s first handheld cellular phone, received FCC approval in September 1983.

The original Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was approximately 10 inches tall, 1.75 inches wide, 3.5 inches deep, and weighed around 2.5 pounds.

Ameritech Mobile Communications launched LINE ONE™ Oct. 13, 1983, the first commercial cellular 1G service in Chicago, using technology from AT&T’s Bell Labs.

The first call on the 1G network was made with a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X.

Widespread public retail sales of the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X began in 1984.

By 1986, I had a Motorola DynaTAC 2000X “bag phone” that worked on the 1G cellular network.

The bag phone used a touch-tone handset and had a small LED display that showed the dialed numbers (as red numerals).

It included a separate battery in the carrying case, a vehicle power adapter, and a magnetic antenna for the car roof.

My first call over the cellular network was to my mother: “Hey, Mom, I am calling you from a phone without any wires attached to it!”

I recall Mom being impressed at this and saying how phones had come a long way from the 1940s when she operated the corded switchboard in Silver Lake.

Today, at 96, Martin Cooper holds 11 patents, including US Patent 3906166, “Radio Telephone System,” filed Oct. 17, 1973.

Rep. Mike Levin of California recently named Martin “Marty” Cooper as “Constituent of the Month” for January of this year.

“You may not know his name . . . Marty is widely known as the ‘father of the cell phone,’” Rep. Levin said.

To view Cooper’s patent, go to the US Patent Office website using this link: .

Search for patent number 3906166, press enter, and then scroll down to find the display preview text or PDF link.

I find it ironic that Capt. Kirk’s communicator inspired Cooper’s vision of the portable communications device we now know as the cellphone.

As Spock would say, “Fascinating.”