70 miles of middle-mile fiber optic infrastructure will be coming to Chippewa, Luce, and Mackinac Counties through a $2.9M EDA grant awarded to Merit Network. The Leveraging Infrastructure for Transforming the Upper Peninsula project will enable local internet service providers to interconnect with Merit’s middle-mile backhaul to bring reliable, high-speed broadband internet to rural and remote communities in the Eastern U.P. The EUPConnect Collaborative—led by the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District and the Eastern Upper Peninsula Regional Planning and Development Commission—will collaborate with Merit on the project.
“Broadband availability and accessibility has long been the highest priority in our region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy,” said Jeff Hagan, CEO of EUP Regional Planning. “The MERIT LIFT-UP project will provide must needed investment to move the needle on this issue and make the region more economically competitive on the national and global stage.” Learn more here.