Gov. Parson announces $3 million in broadband grants
COLUMBIA Mo. (KMIZ)
The state will grant internet providers across Missouri millions of dollars through the Missouri Broadband Grant Program.
You can find the list of broadband grant recipients and their project locations here.
Gov. Mike Parson announced the funding Friday during his daily briefing about COVID-19.
Thirteen different internet providers across the state will divide the funding to increase internet connectivity and speed to an estimated 4,500 households.
Gascosage Electric Cooperative is one of the grant recipients.
General Manager Carmen Hartwell said Gascosage had been planning to install fiber optic connectivity but the cost held them back.
"When these grants came down the pike - that was a game changer," Hartwell said. "I mean it was then not 'can we do it?' but, 'why are we waiting?'"
Each internet provider has its own project in its respective areas and construction is to be finished by the end of the year.
Tom Howard, the CEO and general manager of Callaway Electric Cooperative and Callabyte Technology, a grant recipient, says COVID-19 has shined a light on the need for high-speed internet across the state.
"As this COVID-19, the coronavirus has hit the last 30 days, it's become so vitally imperative to me why people need quality reliable high speed broadband," Howard said. "I can talk about kids going to school from home, I can talk about people needing to work from home, I can talk about people ordering online telemedicine and the list goes on and on."
According to the Missouri Department of Economic Development, Grant funding can be used only to pay for costs associated with the deployment of broadband to unserved and underserved areas.
An unserved area is an area without access to wireline or fixed wireless broadband internet service with speeds of at least 10 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 1 Mbps upload.
An underserved area is an area that currently has a minimum of 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload, but does not yet achieve 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.
Howard said he expects his customers to see the improvement in connectivity and speed by the end of the summer.
"In rural America, just like in cities, you have to have that high-speed broadband connection to stay connected with the world," Howard said. "It's something we've already got the engineering completed on and look forward to being working on it within the next few days, at least to begin construction."
