Few eastern Montana projects in $258 million broadband proposal

A committee advising Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) on a massive state grant program billed as a historic effort to enhance broadband connectivity across rural Montana has plowed into rocky ground as it considers a list of recommended projects. An initial ranking of proposed grants to private telecommunications companies, produced by the state Department of Administration, recommended that nearly half of the Connect MT program’s funding, $126 million, be awarded to projects proposed by Charter Communications — an amount that has drawn the ire of smaller, Montana-based companies that want more support for their own networks. The Republican-controlled 2021 Montana Legislature responded to the American Rescue Plan Act by passing its own bill setting up a system of advisory committees to make recommendations to the governor about federally-funded investments in water infrastructure, public health, economic development and broadband. The broadband program is tasked by law with prioritizing access for “frontier, unserved and underserved areas.” The Department of Administration Director Misty Ann Giles, the committee’s vice-chair, described the $258 million program as a learning experience for the state government, which hasn’t previously managed a large broadband program. The scoring system the department used to rank applications, she said at an Aug. 2 meeting, “is not perfect by any means.”