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Two dozen broadband projects have received grant funding in Minnesota.
Over $50 million in grant funding has been awarded to expand broadband access to almost 9,000 homes and businesses in Minnesota.
Governor Tim Walz announced the grant funding awards, 24 in total, earlier this week.
Money for the grants comes from two programs run by Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development’s (DEED) Office of Broadband Development, according to a March 5 release announcing the grant awards.
DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek said multiple rounds of grant funding have dramatically improved broadband access across Minnesota. His comments were included in a March 5 release from the governor’s office.
“Broadband is a significant equity issue, and as a Greater Minnesota resident in rural Benton County, I hear firsthand from local businesses, students and neighbors about the impact broadband access has on their lives and livelihoods,” he said.
In total, the latest round of grant funding will connect an estimated 8,900 homes and business across the state, the release from the governor’s office stated.
The grants are funded by $33.3 million from DEED’s flagship Border-to-Border Broadband Program and $19.7 million from the Low Population Density Program.
Through the Border-to-Border Broadband Program, broadband provider grantees are reimbursed for up to half the eligible cost of deploying broadband infrastructure, the announcement stated.
The announcement described Minnesota’s Low Population Density Program as a program that “offers grants to providers building broadband service to areas of Minnesota with particularly low population densities and high broadband deployment costs.”
According to the governor’s office, the grants can be worth up to $10 million and can cover up to 75 percent of a project’s cost.
An additional round of $50 million in grant funding through DEED will be announced later this month, the governor’s announcement stated.
