Article Courtesy of SBAM’s Advocacy Team
Michigan is moving one step closer to expanding reliable, high-speed internet access to communities across the state.
The Michigan High-Speed Internet Office announced Monday that 23 subgrantees have signed grant agreements through the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, including SBAM member Baraga Telephone. The agreements allow the selected providers to move forward with permitting and other pre-construction requirements before beginning construction.
The projects represent a combined investment of approximately $1.447 billion, including $916 million in federal funding and another $531 million in private matching investments. Together, the projects are expected to connect nearly 200,000 homes, businesses and community anchor institutions to high-speed internet service.
“Reliable high-speed internet means a student can complete homework, a parent can work from home, a small business can reach new customers and a family can access healthcare without leaving home,” Susan Corbin, director of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, said in announcing the agreements.
For Michigan’s small businesses, reliable broadband has increasingly become a basic part of doing business. Remote/hybrid work and increasingly mobile business operations have made reliable internet connectivity critical for businesses across the state. These trends lead SBAM to identify broadband expansion as an important priority for the future success of Michigan small businesses through a Broadband Task Force, chaired by Gina Thorsen, CEO of Stormy Kromer and current Chair of the SBAM Board of Directors. The task force brought together small business owners from across Michigan to hear from experts, identify priorities and develop recommendations for how broadband resources could best support entrepreneurs, small businesses and their employees.
The task force’s findings emphasized several priorities that remain important as BEAD projects move toward construction.
First was universal, quality access. The task force recommended prioritizing areas of Michigan with no high-speed internet access and cautioned that a location appearing as served on a coverage map did not necessarily mean businesses had access to reliable or adequate service. Specifically, the task force recommended using BEAD resources to build “new and robust connectivity” in areas with more significant gaps in service.
The task force also emphasized competition and cost, recommending that public investments facilitate competition among internet providers rather than create infrastructure limited to a single provider. Other recommendations included recognizing the growing importance of mobile and portable connectivity, providing technical support to rural communities that may lack the resources necessary to navigate broadband programs, and investing in infrastructure that is durable and upgradable as technology evolves.
Those recommendations were made while Michigan was still preparing for the deployment of its federal BEAD allocation. The signing of these agreements represents another step in moving that investment from planning toward infrastructure on the ground.
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