Berrien County could see the expansion of broadband internet availability take off early next year. The Berrien County Board of Commissioners on Thursday heard from Midwest Energy and Communications Chief Technology Officer Terry Rubenthaler about what’s planned now that the company has received tentative approval for a state grant of $27.6 million for rural high-speed internet. He said the grant covers all three southwest Michigan counties.
“We lumped these all together into one big application for a total of 724 miles we have to build throughout these four counties,” Rubenthaler said. “So, we had commitments from Berrien County, Cass County, Van Buren County.”
Berrien County’s commitment was $4.5 million. 33 townships also put up matching funds. Rubenthaler said the company is in the 45 day challenge period for the grant, and so far, no one has challenged it. The period ends August 4. He says people are always asking him when broadband will be expanded to their property.
“That will be the next step. We’ll update our maps, we’ll come up with a plan for who’s going to go first and the schedule for where we’re going to go. We haven’t done that yet. It’s going to be based on the engineering more than it is who pays the most.”
Rubenthaler said the company has lined up suppliers and plans to lay about 20 miles of broadband per week once the ROBIN grant is finalized and comes in. In all, this grant will enable Midwest Energy and Communications to roll out 433 miles of fiber in Berrien County, serving 5,256 customers who currently have no access and another 4,800 who do. The Berrien County work will cost about $23 million. The company wants to hit the ground running with the new year.
