Statewide— Governor Eric J. Holcomb and Lt. Governor Crouch today announced that the second round of the Next Level Connections Broadband Grant program has received 72 applications requesting a total of nearly $100 million in funding.
The applications come from 21 different service providers and their requests cover more than 4,100 of the eligible census blocks in 47 counties. Applicants must contribute at least a 20 percent match. For this round of funding, service providers were able to apply for up to $5 million per project to expand service to unserved areas. Unserved areas are those without at least one telecommunications provider offering internet fast enough to provide at least 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload.
This is the second round of broadband grant funding from the Governor’s Next Level Connections initiative, a $1 billion statewide infrastructure program announced in 2018. The Next Level Connections Broadband Grant program dedicated a total of $100 million to expanding the internet in Indiana. The first round awarded $28.4 million for 14 broadband expansion infrastructure projects across 18 counties.
