By GREGG MONTGOMERY
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Indiana has been allocated more than $868 million to bring reliable high-speed internet to parts of the state where it’s lacking or not available, President Joe Biden and other federal leaders announced Monday.
A 2019 study by Purdue University found some of the most rural areas of Indiana lacked high-speed internet. That’s about 261,300 Hoosiers, or nearly 4 percent of the state’s population. However, studies about the availability of internet accessibility have varied widely, Purdue notes.
“For example, the Federal Communications Commission found that about 261,000 residents lacked access to the minimum standard of internet speed: 25 megabits per second download and 3 megabits per second upload. However, Microsoft found that 4.1 million residents did not use the internet at a minimum of 25 Mbps – a significant portion of Indiana’s population of more than 6.7 million,” Purdue said in a 2021 news release.
The money was set aside in a law approved in 2021. Indiana’s allocation is $868,109,929.79. The total allocated for the project nationally is $42.45 billion.
Funds are expected to be awarded to network operators based on a point system. Operators are expected to cover at least 25 percent of project costs unless they obtain a waiver. Eligible fund recipients can start submitting initial requests for funds July 1. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration will approve initial requests, which will then be distributed by states. It’s not immediately clear how Indiana will distribute the funds.