MIHI presents Where’s My Internet? The MI BEAD Breakdown, a webisode series designed to help Michigan residents, businesses and community leaders understand the state’s historic broadband expansion.
Each episode breaks down what the BEAD program is, why it matters, what to expect during construction and how to prepare to take full advantage of new high-speed internet service once it becomes available. Through clear explanations and conversations with program leaders and partners, the series provides timely, trusted information to help Michiganders stay informed, supported and ready to get connected.
As of 2023, close to 500,000 households are unserved or underserved by high-speed internet infrastructure and another 730,000 households face barriers related to a combination of affordability, adoption, device access and digital literacy. This means approximately 30% of Michigan households do not have an affordable, reliable high-speed internet connection that meets their needs. Michigan received $1.559 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding to close the digital divide.
The first step to implement BEAD was the creation of the Five-Year Action Plan. The Action Plan describes our vision for how the BEAD Program will be implemented and lead us towards availability of high-speed internet access for all Michiganders.
Read the BEAD Five-Year Action Plan
BEAD stakeholders and subgrantees have a wide variety of information to digest for implementing the program. The stakeholder information ranges from the early State Challenge process to multiple application processes and ultimately final proposal. MIHI has curated materials for subgrantees that will assist them in successfully navigating the BEAD program.
The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program – most often called “BEAD” – is the largest single investment in high-speed internet infrastructure in our nation’s history and is administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). While BEAD is a national program, each state and territory will be implementing BEAD in their own way within the federal guidelines of the program. The Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI) is the entity implementing BEAD in Michigan. Read more about BEAD from the NTIA.
Michigan’s BEAD allocation is $1.559 billion, the fourth highest allocation in the country.
BEAD is designed to ensure that every one of Michigan’s unserved and underserved homes and businesses can get connected to reliable high-speed internet infrastructure. MIHI also plans to leverage BEAD funding to address issues of affordability, device access, digital skills and others that continue to create a digital divide.
BEAD was implemented as a competitive grant program. Applicants will propose projects to build reliable high-speed internet infrastructure to connect unserved and underserved locations. Successful applicants will be awarded BEAD funding to construct those projects and provide service. See more in the next section on specific subgrantee selection questions.
Previous state grant programs that funded high-speed internet infrastructure expansion pitted one geographic project area against others as there was not enough funding to serve every unserved location. BEAD, however, needs to reach every unserved and underserved location and achieve the universal availability of high-speed internet. No one can be left behind. This creates unique aspects of the BEAD Program that set it apart from traditional internet infrastructure grant programs:
Unserved and underserved homes and businesses can be found throughout the entire State of Michigan, but, as you might imagine, are primarily located in our most rural communities.
A home or business is “unserved” if it does not have an internet connection available at a speed of at least 25/3 Mbps (25 Megabits per second download and 3 Megabits per second upload) from either cable, fiber or licensed fixed wireless technology. Based on data published by the FCC, we estimate that there are approximately 370,000 such homes and businesses in Michigan.
Similarly, a home or business is “underserved” if it has an internet connection available with a speed of at least 25/3 Mbps but less than 100/20 Mbps from either cable, fiber or licensed fixed wireless technology. There are approximately 125,000 such homes and businesses.
MIHI aims to design the BEAD Program to connect all of Michigan’s unserved and underserved locations.
A home or business is considered “served” if an internet connection is available with a speed of at least 100/20 Mbps (100 Megabits per second download and 20 Megabits per second upload) from either cable, fiber or licensed fixed wireless technology.
Schools and libraries and other similar organizations are considered Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs). BEAD funds can be used to connect CAIs to internet service; so long as there are sufficient funds to connect all unserved and underserved homes and businesses, then connections to CAIs that currently lack internet service that meet their needs can be funded.
BEAD empowers each state to identify which places and organizations are CAIs. Unlike for homes and businesses, the FCC does not 1) maintain a list or map of all CAIs or 2) collect data on the availability of internet service to CAIs. MIHI has identified a broad range of organizations that serve the needs of Michigan communities and can help expand the use of high-speed internet, including schools, libraries, healthcare facilities, public safety agencies, senior and community centers, government offices and other community support organizations including Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, childcare centers, agricultural labor camps, job training centers, homeless service agencies and foodbanks and zoos (aquariums, museums, wildlife centers and similar educational venues).
Our list currently includes more than 20,000 CAIs, most of which are in areas of our state where high-speed internet is already available. Because of their unique role as a “hub” for multiple users, CAIs must have a connection of at least 1/1 Gbps (one Gigabit per second for both download or upload speeds) to be considered served. MIHI estimates that only about one-third of the CAIs identified would be eligible to be connected using BEAD funds.
Internet service can be delivered using several different types of infrastructure. For the purposes of BEAD, the NTIA defines “reliable technology” as an internet connection delivering speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps using either cable (coaxial cable) technology, fiber-optics or licensed fixed wireless with a latency of less than 100 milliseconds (ms). Other technologies that can deliver high-speed internet include unlicensed fixed wireless, digital subscriber line (DSL via copper telephone lines) and satellite, however, these are not considered reliable technologies for the purposes of BEAD.
The BEAD Program began with a Challenge Process as outlined in Initial Proposal Volume I which was approved by NTIA. The Challenge Process allowed local units of government, non-profit organizations and internet service providers to help MIHI ensure that every home, business and CAI in the state is classified correctly as either unserved, underserved or served. For more information visit the BEAD State Challenge Website.
MIHI estimates that Michigan’s BEAD allocation will be enough to ensure connectivity to every unserved and underserved home and business as well as the eligible CAIs. Guaranteeing success will not be easy and it will take the creative, efficient and transparent collaboration among everyone in Michigan to make sure we can reach our shared goal of universal availability of high-speed internet for all Michiganders.
BEAD will take some time given the scale and ambition of the program. MIHI anticipates opening the subgrantee selection process in mid-2024. We then have one year to select subgrantees and finalize the use of funds. Approval of Michigan’s final list of subgrantees and the locations to be served is anticipated to occur in mid-2025. After final approval, subgrantees will have four years to complete their infrastructure projects and begin delivering service. BEAD also allows for a one-year extension on the construction time if needed.
The BEAD Program is primarily focused on enhancing high-speed internet infrastructure rather than specifically targeting cellular coverage. While BEAD’s main objective is not to directly address cellular network issues, improvements in broadband infrastructure can have indirect benefits for cellular services. Enhanced high-speed internet infrastructure may support better cellular services, especially in areas where such infrastructure can be used to enhance backhaul for cellular networks. Cellular users whose providers support Wi-Fi calling can also use high-speed internet at home for voice calling on their cell phones.
While BEAD is primarily focused on enhancing high-speed internet infrastructure, another goal of BEAD is to ensure all Michiganders are able to take advantage of such infrastructure when it is available. If Michigan is successful in building infrastructure to all of the state’s unserved and underserved homes, businesses and community anchor institutions, remaining funds can be used for non-deployment activities such as addressing challenges related to digital inclusion. MIHI has a Digital Equity Plan and is ready to use these funds, as well as funds from the Digital Equity Act, to address digital inclusion challenges in Michigan.
