Montana prepping for burst of broadband expansion with federal dollars

As broad swaths of Montana still have substandard high-speed Internet or cell-phone service–or, none at all–the Gianforte administration is launching a federally funded $275 million-plus effort to improve that picture. The money is from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed by Congress this March, without a single Republican vote. But Republican leaders in Montana, with bipartisan support, have set up the nine-member Communications Advisory Commission that could start approving projects later this year. “The quicker we can get the funds out there, the quicker we can serve Montana,” State Sen Jason Ellsworth (R-Hamilton), a member of the Commission, said. “We know that we’re dead last in the country for [Internet] speeds, and we know at the end of the day, we are transforming our economy digitally.” The Communications Advisory Commission holds its first meeting July 13, and will outline how it plans to process broadband-expansion proposals from private companies or partnerships between those companies and local governments.