Three Years and $1.5 Billion Later: Michigan’s “Internet for All Program” Won’t Make a Single Connection Until 2025

Three years after Congress approved a $42 billion effort to expand internet access across the country, not a single household in Michigan or elsewhere has benefited from those public tax dollars.

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act resulted in a $1.5 billion allocation for Michigan to expand internet access to underserved, mostly rural communities, and the state created a Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI) to dole out the funding.

In a report last month, the MIHI explained how bureaucratic procedures continue to prevent officials in Michigan from moving forward on the program Gov. Gretchen Whitmer promised will expand access to “over 200,000 Michiganders … across the state,” the Mackinac Center for Public Policy reports.

“MIHI received approval from National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on Initial Proposal Volume 2 (IPV2). IPV2 describes the unique subgrant program which will guide the state’s BEAD $1.559 billion funding allocation,” the report read. “However, because NTIA has not yet approved our State Challenge Process results, we do not yet have specific dates for Michigan’s BEAD Project Application Window. These will be announced as soon as we are able to establish them.”

That means it’s unlikely Michigan’s BEAD program will get underway until at least 2025, though some suggest there’s other problems on the horizon once it is.

The MCPP pointed to a 2024 report from Citizens Against Government Waste that reviewed BEAD spending plans for all states and awarded Michigan’s a “special dishonorable mention” because it will “dictate specific prices providers must charge to score well in the competitive application process.

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