$1 Billion Allotted To Wisconsin For Rural Broadband Internet Installation

The White House announced Monday, June 26, 2023, that $42.45 billion in grants will be provided across the nation to help bring access of high speed internet for people in need of it, with just over $1 billion making it to Wisconsin.

White House Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitchell Landrieu said, “High-speed internet is not a luxury; it’s a necessity”.

The program associated with the grant is called B.E.A.D., which stands for Broadband Equity Access and Deployment. Its purpose is to provide money to every state in the U.S. to improve high-speed internet accessibility.

According to Senator Tammy Baldwin, over 650,000 Wisconsinites lack access to high-speed internet. Landrieu said that construction is expected to begin early next year to install fiber cables in rural areas, calling it a five-year build, expecting the work to be complete by 2030 across the United States.