The Michigan High-Speed Internet Office’s Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) program says it has provided broadband to more than 10,000 addresses.
The program consists of two rounds of public and private funding. The first was announced in October 2023. It provided $166 million in grants and $133 million in matching funds to offer access to 55,425 unserved locations.
The second round provides $71,776,890.94 in grant funds to 17 total projects from seven applicants. The applicants will provide $86,380,646.20 in matching funds. These projects will connect 16,023 Michigan houses and businesses that lack access to broadband.
In all, the program consists of $238 million in grant funds and $218 million in matching funds to offer broadband access to more than 71,500 previously unserved locations. The federal funding is through the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund investment.
In total, the ROBIN program will provide $238 million in federal funding to support the deployment of high-speed internet throughout Michigan.
Charter’s Spectrum was the big winner in the second round with nine awards covering ten counties and totaling more than $26 million. Brightspeed was other multiple winner, with awards for three counties totaling almost $757,000. The full recipient list for the Michigan ROBIN program’s second round follows:
- 123Net (Ottawa County, approximately $8.84 million)
- Aspire Network (Chippewa, Marquette, Delta, Menominee, Dickinson, Schoolcraft, Luce, Mackinac counties, $8.9 million)
- Brightspeed (Bay County, $68,000)
- Brightspeed (Missaukee County, $575,000)
- Brightspeed (Sanilac county, $131,300)
- DMCI Broadband LLC (Branch, Hillsdale counties, $2.94 million)
- Frontier North (Clinton County, $15 million)
- Spectrum (Mason County, $1.05 million)
- Spectrum (Charter County, Hillsdale, $499,000)
- Spectrum (Ionia County, $1.82 million)
- Spectrum (Shiawassee County, $3.2 million)
- Spectrum (Genesee County, $902,000)
- Spectrum (St. Joseph County, $1.79 million)
- Spectrum (Roscommon County, $876,000)
- Spectrum (Antrim County, $2.14 million)
- Spectrum (Chippewa County, $15 million)
- Thumb Electric Cooperative (Huron, Sanilac counties, $6.24 million)