Midwest Energy and Communications has announced its broadband rollout plans around Southwest Michigan for 2025.
MEC Spokesperson Amy Pales tells us throughout the first six months of the year, new fiber will be laid in areas including Bloomingdale, Buchanan, Decatur, Dowagiac, Galien, Hartford, Lawrence, Lawton, Mattawan, Niles, and Three Oaks. This will bring high-speed internet to about 7,000 homes and businesses where it’s currently unavailable.
“The people that we are focusing on for our build-out are rural residents who don’t have access to reliable high-speed broadband,” Pales said. “You know, they’re stuck with satellite or they use their hotspots on their phone. So when we come in with fiber, it’s a huge boon for people because they can actually do what they need to do online.”
Pales says all of this work is possible because of the 2020 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund from the Federal Communications Commission, as well as the Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks, or ROBIN, grant program from the state of Michigan. MEC was awarded funds via ROBIN in 2023 to expand broadband throughout Southwest Michigan, and since then, it’s grown to more than 30,000 customers.
Residents of areas MEC will be working in this year can start to check now if their address will be affected. If so, they can register to sign up for service.
MEC will announce new construction areas for the second half of 2025 in June.
