Several mid-Michigan communities will get a total of $5.6 million to fund high speed broadband internet service to more than 4,300 rural homes and businesses over the next 10 years.
The money comes from the Federal Communication Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase 1 auction.
Locally, nearly half of that funding will go to Clare County, which will receive more than $2.6 million to provide service to 1,941 customers.
Companies with the winning bids were Point Broadband Fiber Holding, Mercury Wireless and Charter Communications.
Point Broadband will get the majority of the money – nearly $2.5 million – to provide service to 1,476 homes and businesses in the county.
In Michigan, the auction allocated $362 million in support of expanding broadband to 249,263 unserved homes and businesses.
Nearly all locations in the state that were eligible for the auction will be receiving access to broadband with speeds of at least 100/20 megabits per second, with 80 percent of those getting gigabit-speed service.
“This historic auction is great news for the residents of so many rural Michigan communities, who will get access to high-quality broadband service in areas that for too long have been on the wrong side of the digital divide,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stated in a press release. “We structured this innovative auction to prioritize bids for high-speed, low-latency services to deliver the best results for rural American, and the results show that this strategy worked.”
Gladwin County will receive more than $1.3 million to serve 499 residences and businesses, with Point Broadband Fiber Holding again getting most of that.
Other mid-Michigan communities getting funding are: Midland County, $1 million to serve 1,345 customers; Clinton County, $462,000 to serve 482 customers; Montcalm County, $14,432 to serve 39 customers; Isabella County, $51,800 to serve 87 customers; and Mecosta County, $3,308 to serve 10 customers.
Gratiot County did not have any bidders participate in the FCC auction.
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