The Minnesota Office of Broadband Development (OBD) has awarded Arvig grant funding to extend existing fiber infrastructure to more than 118 unserved locations in several lakes-area counties.
Arvig was awarded grants totaling $842,562 from OBD’s Line Extension Connection program after submitting successful lowest-cost bids to provide fiber to the locations. Arvig will invest another $217,419 to cover additional project costs.
The Line Extension Connection program, administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) was created to bridge the gap in connecting homes and businesses just out of reach of existing last-mile infrastructure.
Created in 2022 with a budget of $15 million, the program invites residents and business owners to submit applications if they lack a wired connection with access to internet speeds of at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, which is considered unserved. Internet service providers then bid on the applications and are awarded grant funding based on the number of successful bids.
As Arvig reports, there was $15 million budgeted for Line Extension. I expect we will see a full list of awardees from State soon. It would be really nice if that list included a map. Arvig also included information for folks interested in applying for Line Extension support…
More information about how to apply for the program is available at https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/broadband/extension.
For assistance completing the application or to request a paper form, call 651-259-7610 or email DEED.broadband@state.mn.us.
To date, the program has received more than 3,000 applications across the state of Minnesota.