The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has released a Request for Proposals to award $50 million in broadband grants, according to the Red Lake News. Minnesota providers who apply for their share of the grants must agree to provide speeds of at least 100 Mbps/20 Mbps to underserved Minnesotans.
“Broadband is an absolute necessity for Minnesotans looking to connect online with employers, customers, schools, doctors, government services, social networks – frankly, anything at all,” stated DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek. “Our broadband grant programs continue to deliver this economic and social imperative to more Minnesota homes and businesses every year. We’re excited to launch another round of high-impact grants today.”
The funds will be split into two programs. The first $30 million will go to DEED’s Border-to-Border Broadband Program. Under this initiative, broadband provider grantees are reimbursed for up to 50 percent of their eligible cost of deploying broadband infrastructure. However, there is a per-project limit of $10 million.
With another $20 million allotted to the Low Population Density Program, those funds will assist providers who are willing to extend broadband services to areas of the state with low population densities and high broadband deployment costs. This program also includes a $10 million per-project limit, but will reimburse providers up to 75 percent of their costs.
“High-impact investments like those we’re launching today continue the acceleration of DEED’s broadband grantmaking,” DEED Office of Broadband Development Executive Director Bree Maki told the News. “Programs like Border-to-Border and Low Population Density help us pursue our goal of offering high-speed broadband to everyone.”
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