The federal funds coming to Mississippi are part of $42.5 billion funneled through the 2021 Infrastructure and Jobs Act.
On Monday, Governor Tate Reeves announced that Mississippi was receiving over $1.2 billion in federal funds to increase access to high-speed internet across the state.
Mississippi will move forward with deploying the funds using a competitive grant process administered through the Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM). The funding will span over the next several years and aims to provide access for up to 300,000 Mississippians who are in unserved and underserved areas.
Mississippi’s $1.2 billion is part of $42.5 billion the Biden Administration has rolled out through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. It is part of the “Internet for All” initiative. Funding is being administered by the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. This program was created by the Infrastructure and Jobs Act in 2021.
“What we’re doing is, as I said, not unlike what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did when he brought electricity to nearly every American home and farm in our nation. Today [Vice President] Kamala [Harris] and I are making an equally historic investment to connect everyone in America to highspeed internet, and affordable highspeed internet, by 2030,” President Joe Biden said at a White House event on Monday.
Grants are to be distributed based on the number of locations that currently lack access to high-speed internet. Estimated costs associated with those areas will also be considered.
Additional broadband expansion efforts include a recent $151 million available through the Capital Projects Fund (CPF). Grant proposals are currently being accepted for this money. Officials anticipate the dollars to impact nearly 35,000 homes in Mississippi who do not have access to high-speed internet.
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“I’m proud of the work we’re doing to improve our residents’ connectivity,” said Governor Reeves. “People want to live in areas where they can access broadband and that are connected. That’s why we’ll continue to aggressively build out broadband infrastructure to every region of our state, so all Mississippians can harness the opportunities technology provides them.”
Obtaining the federal funding
The BEAM office is required to submit a Five-Year Action plan regarding how the funding will be utilized. This plan must be submitted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in the summer of 2023. BEAM will then submit an Initial Proposal for the first phase of the buildout process due this winter.
“BEAM knows there is a need to get high-speed internet to all Mississippians. We know this funding will be transformational for so many Mississippians and their communities.” said Sally Doty, Director of BEAM. “BEAM encourages every Mississippian to contribute to the state broadband map at broadbandms.com. If you have slow internet, you can take the speed test on the broadbandms.com website and those speeds will be logged into our state map.”
Once the proposal is approved by NTIA, 20% of the funding will be released to start the grant process. Projects will then be built over a five-year period by internet service providers.
The public will be allowed to comment once the plan is on the website. Public commentary can be sent to comment@beam.ms.gov until July 28.
Sarah Ulmer
