Healey-Driscoll Administration Awards More Than $45 Million in Grants to Extend High-Speed Internet Coverage Statewide

The Healey-Driscoll Administration, in partnership with Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's (MassTech) Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI), awarded $45.4 million in grants through the state’s Broadband Infrastructure Gap Networks Program, a program funded through the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund that aims to expand high-speed broadband internet infrastructure to underserved homes, business, and community anchor institutions across the state. The grant recipients include Comcast, Greenfield Community Energy and Technology, Spectrum Northeast LLC, and Verizon New England Inc. Recipients will use the grants, along with more than $40 million in matching funds, to deploy high-speed internet lines to approximately 2,000 locations in 41 Massachusetts communities that lack access to a broadband connection.

Grant recipients will use funds to deliver projects that must:

• Deliver service that meets or exceeds internet speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) for downloads and 100 Mbps for uploads
• Provide internet access to 100% of all existing unserved and underserved serviceable locations
• Provide a minimum 20% funding match with waivers provided to certain municipalities that have existing debt obligations associated with municipal fiber-to-the-premise projects
• Reach substantial project completion before December 31, 2026