As part of the state of Mississippi’s ongoing effort to expand broadband access, a total of $21.6 million will be spread across nine projects to provide quality internet to more than 12,000 households.
Governor Tate Reeves announced the grant funding for the projects on Monday. The money is made available through the Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which operates to ensure that broadband connections are made in critical areas of the state that lack access to high-speed internet.
The Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) will disperse the money to the following approved projects:
- ACE Fiber – Blue Springs/SE Union County
- ACE Fiber – Blue Mountain to New Albany
- ACE Fiber – Potts Camp to Myrtle
- AT&T – Leake County: Sebastopol/Conway/Bertice areas
- AT&T – Marshall County: Mahon/Waites/Laws Hill areas
- CSpire – Southwest MS: Columbia/Summit/Osyka/Liberty/Gloster
- CSpire – Central MS: Puckett/Magee/Mendenhall/Madison
- Comcast – Statewide Line Extension: Jackson area/Laurel/Hattiesburg areas
- TVEPA – NE Yalobusha County/Water Valley
“Mississippi continues to make incredible progress in expanding broadband access all across our state,” Reeves said. “It’s a critical piece of infrastructure, and we’re working hard to ensure that every Mississippian has access to it. We’ll continue doing everything in our power to ensure everyone has connectivity, regardless of their zip code.”
This announcement is in addition to $70.1 million awarded for 24 other broadband-related projects approved in June of this year to serve approximately 27,000 households. In total, Mississippi was allocated $162 million through CPF.
The $162 million in CPF funding is only one of the investments in Mississippi broadband that is to be administered by the BEAM office. BEAM is currently overseeing the $32 million Broadband Infrastructure Program projects that will be completed this calendar year.
The state office is also preparing to administer the $1.2 billion in funding provided by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant, and overseeing the $10.7 million State Digital Skills and Accessibility grant.
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