Broadband company defaults on federal grants, delaying internet projects across Michigan

A broadband company promised to bring high-speed internet to many Michigan residents and businesses and then left them in the lurch. In 2024, Kansas-based Mercury Broadband defaulted on federal grant obligations and relinquished more than 60,000 locations across the state, said Eric Frederick, who heads the Michigan High Speed Internet Office. Mercury will not be completing the vast majority of the internet buildout projects. It had been awarded about $62 million to connect customers across six states through the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. This put a wrench in Washtenaw County’s plan to become the first in Michigan with 100 percent high-speed broadband internet coverage, and it means some in the county and throughout the state will have to wait longer for high-speed internet.