The United States is, and has been, playing catch-up in the race for global internet connectivity. The greatest challenges today exist in rural areas and low-income urban environments, which often have limited or no access to comprehensive, affordable internet coverage.
The consequences of the connectivity gap were fully exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The world became much more reliant on the internet than ever before, and reliable home digital access became essential for school, work, communication, and recreation.
This connectivity challenge is close to home in metro Detroit and statewide, but in different ways. While more than 99 percent of households in the region have some access to the internet in their homes, a gap remains for those who can actually afford it. According to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, in Oakland County 3 percent of children don’t have household internet; in Macomb County it’s 4 percent; and in Wayne County it’s 12.4 percent.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program is working to bridge this gap. According to Michigan’s BEAD website, as of 2023 close to 500,000 mostly rural households statewide are unserved or underserved by high-speed internet infrastructure.
Additionally, another 730,000 households statewide face barriers related to affordability, adoption, device access, and digital literacy. Taken together, this represents more than 10 percent of Michigan’s overall population.
On Nov. 15, 2021, at the height of the pandemic, President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law. This act earmarked $65 billion to bridge the digital divide in the country. The enormous funding investment emphasizes the significance of digital infrastructure.
Michigan’s allocation is nearly $1.6 billion, which is the fourth-largest share among states — behind Texas, California, and Missouri. The potential to carefully deploy these funds to address Michigan’s infrastructure shortfall is an opportunity that’s unlikely to come again in our lifetime.
Bridging the rural connectivity gap with BEAD in Michigan will have a positive impact for online learning, health care, business, and other economic opportunities still to be realized. BEAD also will enable internet service providers to help expand high-speed internet to every home in the state, including remote areas, and provide funding to make it more affordable.
The internet has had a major, transformative impact on rural economies and in virtually all aspects of our daily lives. In areas where farming and agriculture are essential to the local economy, the impact can be transformative. Soon, rural Michigan farmers, armed with access to fiber networks, can deploy cutting-edge agricultural technologies that will increase output and quality, lower costs, create sustainable practices to protect Michigan’s rich farmland, and foster economic growth in communities.
Education, of course, is the cornerstone of any forward-looking, thriving community. The lack of reliable internet in rural areas has disadvantaged Michigan children. BEAD will change this by enabling seamless distance learning for rural schools and homes, connecting young people to worldwide resources and endless learning opportunities.
Telemedicine, meanwhile, is a critical issue that’s fundamentally changing health care as we know it today. Although its advantages are many, it’s all predicated on stable connectivity. Many people across the state simply are not well enough to travel to receive specialty medical care — a problem even more pronounced in rural communities. BEAD will enable medical consultation from the state’s health care industry to truly be just a click away.
Finally, the BEAD program aligns with environmental sustainability goals by allowing for remote work, reduced transportation needs, and lower carbon emissions. It will open possibilities for transforming even hard-to-reach places like Beaver Island (in northern Lake Michigan) into viable locales for professional careers.
Achieving internet for all in Michigan won’t happen without challenges. Network-builders face hurdles, including high deployment costs, a challenging permitting environment, and a shortage of trained telecommunications labor. Innovative solutions like public-private partnerships are addressing these challenges.
Consider, for example, 123Net’s public-private partnership with Allegan County (south of Grand Rapids), which is deploying a 1,100-mile countywide fiber network project fully aligned with community needs. Service levels, quality, and pricing are guaranteed.
In addition to grant support, Allegan County contributed $17.5 million to enhance the network’s viability and achieve universal access within the county, overcoming the high deployment costs of rural networks. None of this would be economically possible for local ISPs or counties if not for the outside funding from programs like BEAD, which makes it a paramount opportunity.
The BEAD program is more than a government initiative. It’s a beacon of hope for rural Michigan and all who struggle to afford internet access. I believe the BEAD program will ultimately prove every bit as impactful on our country as the transcontinental railroad in 1873, bringing people, geographies, and opportunities closer together than ever before.