The Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB) is providing a grant opportunity to extend broadband service into unserved areas in Michigan. The grant funds are available to projects that demonstrate collaboration to achieve community investment and economic development goals of the area impacted.
Pursuant to Public Act 618 of 2018, the Connecting Michigan Communities Grant Program shall award grants to applicants for projects that exclusively extend broadband service into unserved areas in Michigan. “Broadband service” means a retail terrestrial service capable of delivering high-speed internet access at speeds of at least 10 megabits per second downstream and 1 megabit per second upstream. “Unserved area” means either a census block without at least 1 provider providing broadband service within the census block, or a delineated area within a census block without at least 1 provider providing broadband service. Priority shall be given to projects that demonstrate collaboration to achieve community investment and economic development goals of the area impacted, and that are able to demonstrate that they have the managerial, financial, and technical ability to build, operate, and manage a broadband network. All grant project work must be completed by September 30, 2023.
| Public Comment | February 4 – 15, 2019 |
|---|---|
| Application Period | July 1 – August 30, 2019 |
| Initial Award Recommendations Published | November 23, 2020 |
| Comment and Objection Period | November 23, 2020 – January 25, 2021 |
| Grant Awards Announced | April 13, 2021 |
| Completion Date of the Project | September 2023 |
As a requirement of Public Act 618 of 2018 - Section 806, at the time an award is given to an applicant, the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget shall provide notice on its website of each application receiving funds, including the name of the entity, the amount of funds being received, the broadband speed, and the unserved location indicated by census blocks, or the delineated area within a census block, for which the applicant is receiving the funds.
As a requirement of Public Act 618 of 2018 - Section 806, the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB) shall make initial grant award recommendations. Within 30 days after the award recommendations have been made, DTMB shall publish on its website the freedom of information act redacted grant applications, the proposed geographic broadband service area, and the proposed broadband service speeds for each application that receives an award recommendation. Before granting a final award to any applicant, DTMB shall establish a period of at least 60 days from the date the award recommendations are published on the department's website, during which time the department will accept comments or objections concerning each application. DTMB shall consider all comments or objections received in deciding whether an applicant is eligible for a grant. DTMB will be accepting comments and objections to the initial grant award recommendations from November 23, 2020, through January 25, 2021.
|
APPLICANT |
PROJECT NAME |
GEOGRAPHICSERVICE AREA |
PROPOSED BROADBANDSERVICE SPEEDS |
|---|---|---|---|
|
906 Technologies |
Baraga, Houghton |
1 Gbps / 1 Gbps |
|
|
Comcast |
Berrien |
1000 Mbps / 35 Mbps |
|
|
Comcast |
Comcast Coloma Twp |
Berrien |
1000 Mbps / 35 Mbps |
|
Comcast |
Washtenaw |
1000 Mbps / 35 Mbps |
|
|
Lennon Telephone Company |
Shiawassee, Genesee |
60 Mbps / 10 Mbps |
|
|
Mercury Wireless |
Branch, Calhoun,Kalamazoo, St Joseph |
100 Mbps / 20 Mbps |
|
|
Mercury Wireless |
St Joseph |
100 Mbps / 20 Mbps |
Areas shown on the map identify the geographic service area of the proposals included in the initial grant recommendations by census block and do not identify the specific service routes or partial census block areas proposed by these projects.
DTMB will be accepting comments and objections to the initial CMIC grant recommendations from November 23, 2020, through January 25, 2021. Please read the Comment and Objection Instructions prior to submitting the Comment and Objection Form to file a comment or objection regarding the initial grant recommendations.
All comments and objection forms must be submitted via email to DTMB-CMICGrant@michigan.gov and must be received by DTMB no later than 4:00PM on Monday, January 25, 2021. Any materials submitted to DTMB as part of a comment or objection are subject to public disclosure via Freedom of Information Act requests.
CMIC 1.5 Objection and Comment Instructions
