As Colorado continues to fund broadband efforts across the state, the Delta-Montrose Electric Association is hoping to benefit from the $826.5 million in BEAD monies that is being disbursed.
“We are hopeful,” Kent Blackwell, Chief Technology Officer for the DMEA, told the Montrose Press. “We’ve got [existing] funding committed that will get us to 95 percent of buildout in our target area. Depending on our success with other applications, we will make a submission to BEAD if we still have a need when that application [period] opens up.”
Colorado Governor Jared Polis has said that his ultimate goal is to have 99 percent of the households within the state digitally connected by the end of 2027. The BEAD funds allocated for his state were released on June 26, and an announcement of the strategic plan for their use was shared on July 6. The rollout will continue to follow the roadmap established by the Colorado Broadband Office in 2022.
“The bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s BEAD program, based on my bipartisan BRIDGE Act, will bring high-speed internet to communities across Colorado, ensuring our students can continue learning in the digital age and connecting homes, farms, and small businesses across the state,” confirmed Senator Michael Bennet. “Just as earlier generations had the foresight to electrify the nation and build our interstate highway system, now it is our turn to invest in our communities and lay the foundation for decades of economic growth.”
“For many years in the early parts of this project, it was hard for us to see light at the end of the tunnel,” said Blackwell, noting that the DMEA has been delivering fiber service through its Elevate subsidiary for the past seven years. “Now we can certainly see light at the end of the tunnel,” he explained, according to the Montrose Press.
Blackwell explained, “Our buildout for the DMEA service territory footprint, we’ve built out 75 percent of members of the electric co-op so far and are under construction to get us to 85 percent of electric members. The projects that will kick off at the end of the year, those projects will get us to 95 percent.” The newly released funding could be the key to reaching the diminishing number of Coloradoans who still lack digital connectivity, he noted.
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