Michigan
Middle Mile Connections through BIP
Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) awarded a $10.5 million Broadband Infrastructure Program (BIP) grant to Michigan State University and MERIT Network for the Michigan Open Optical Network (MOON-Light) project, an open-access middle mile network. This will provide additional capacity for Michigan and directly increase access to high-speed Internet for 17,000 Michiganders.
Connecting Communities through Additional OICG Grants
NTIA’s Connecting Minority Communities (CMC) Pilot Program awarded $3 million to the Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) to promote digital literacy and inclusion for students and anchor communities serviced by WCCCD.
Seven of Michigan’s federally recognized Tribes received over $4 million in grants from the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) to improve connectivity for Tribal members, including Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan; Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan; Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan; Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan; Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan; and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan. Nottawaseppi has successfully completed their grant and has provided Broadband Adoption and Use activities to their Tribal Members.
Industry Engagement Build American
In September 2023, Calix, a leading provider of broadband electronics, announced an initial investment of $6 million and plans to hire over 100 new workers as it moves broadband electronics manufacturing from overseas to Michigan.
Mapping Michigan
The Michigan High Speed Internet (MIHI) Office worked to ensure that as many unserved and underserved locations as possible were included for grant eligibility. Efforts included a statewide infrastructure audit with network engineering teams traveling more than 57,000 road miles and resulting in challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) National Broadband Map.
Increasing Capacity and Resiliency with Undersea Cables
In Michigan, Peninsula Fiber Network LLC received a $61.2 million grant through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure (Middle Mile) Program to place 535 miles of new middle mile fiber through underserved and unserved communities, as well as undersea routes across the Great Lakes. This will help improve the resiliency of Michigan’s broadband network by ensuring undersea cables are less impacted by severe weather patterns and other catastrophic events. This project will also provide fiber connectivity to Beaver Island, the Great Lakes’ most remote inhabited island.
Public Engagement
The MIHI Office conducted a statewide listening tour including 41 stops with more than 1,000 stakeholders in attendance. This tour provided the MIHI Office with invaluable data and drove the creation of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Five-Year Action Plan and Digital Equity Plan. MIHI Office staff traveled an estimated 25,000 miles to hear from every corner of the state. Michigan’s Federal Program Officer (FPO) joined most of these events to support the state and engage with stakeholders.