On Monday, Montana state officials published a new interactive broadband map and opened the grant application process to expand connectivity, reported the Montana Free Press. Montana is ranked 50th in the nation for broadband access, according to BroadbandNow.
As the state expands broadband over the coming years, the map will inform officials how best to allocate $266 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. Gov. Greg Gianforte is committed to making “a historic investment to get fiber in the ground and close the digital divide.”
The new broadband map represents 700,683 locations as either “served,” “underserved,” “unserved,” or “frontier.” An address is considered “fully served” with broadband if download speeds of at least 100 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 20 Mbps are present. The Free Press reported that 64 percent of addresses are categorized as served.
Private internet service providers are encouraged to submit plans to expand coverage to underserved or unserved areas through the ConnectMT program. ConnectMT is focused on areas, especially rural ones, that lack connectivity.
Under the ConnectMT grant program, applicants will be required to cover at least 20 percent of their proposed project cost as matching funds. Applicants must also commit to offering services using the new connection infrastructure for a minimum of five years. Applications are due April 8, and the program expects to announce grant awards in the summer.
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