The state of Mississippi has been awarded over $1.2 billion in federal grant funding for the expansion of high-speed internet.
The office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) will administer the funding through a competitive grant process over the next several years, which will allow 300,000 unserved and 200,000 underserved locations that do not have access to high-speed broadband are expected to be reached.
“People want to live in areas where they can access broadband and that are connected,” Governor Tate Reeves said. “That’s why we’ll continue to aggressively build out broadband infrastructure to every region of our state, so all Mississippians can harness the opportunities technology provides them.”
The allocated funding is part of a $42.45 billion investment nationwide by the Department of Commerce for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.
At this time, BEAD prioritizes unserved locations that have no internet access or that only have access under 25/3 Mbps and underserved locations that only have access under 100/20 Mbps.
“This massive investment in Mississippi’s internet infrastructure will be transformational for our state and help many Mississippians access the high-speed internet they deserve,” Senator Roger Wicker said. “Investments like these are the exact reason I fought so hard to ensure the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law focused on the hard infrastructure that helps our economy grow.”
BEAD was established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Now, BEAM will submit a five-year action plan detailing how the funding will be spent to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in late summer. This will be followed by an initial proposal for the first phase of the buildout process due this winter.
“BEAM knows there is a need to get high-speed internet to all Mississippians. We know this funding will be transformational for so many Mississippians and their communities,” BEAM Director Sally Doty stated. “BEAM encourages every Mississippian to contribute to the state broadband map at broadbandms.com. If you have slow internet, you can take the speed test on the broadbandms.com website and those speeds will be logged into our state map.”
Once Mississippi’s initial proposal is approved by NTIA, 20 percent of the funding will be released to the state to begin the competitive grant process. BEAD-funded broadband projects will be built over a five-year period by eligible internet service providers.
