MAILBAG: Broadband project

ANSWER:

That project is a part of the Merit Network broadband initiative making its way throughout the state.

The installation is a part of Merit's broadband stimulus project, REACH-3MC.

Here is some information about the project according to the Merit website, http://www.merit.edu/meritformic...

In 2010, Merit Network, Inc. received two federal grants from funds allocated through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, totaling more than $100 million for Merit's broadband project, REACH-3MC.

The Rural, Education, Anchor, Community and Health care - Michigan Middle Mile Collaborative (REACH-3MC) is a collaboration that will build much needed broadband infrastructure in many parts of the state. The first grant for $33.3 million enabled the construction of a 1,017 mile open-access network in Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

The second grant for $69.6 million will be used to add an additional 1,270 miles of fiber-optic infrastructure in Northern Lower and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan. REACH-3MC is middle-mile infrastructure project funded through a program of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Merit Network structured the REACH-3MC project to include several sub-recipients, organizations that can leverage the new infrastructure to improve broadband access to homes and businesses along the route.

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