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  "description": "Project will pass fiber through island relying on DSL.\n",
  "path": "/work-begins-on-87m-michigan-middle-mile-project/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-08-12T16:09:27.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "Peninsula Fiber Network",
    "_open-access_",
    "_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_",
    "Join the Community!",
    "_of roughly_",
    "_only terrestrial_",
    "_in exchange for funding_",
    "_petitioned_",
    "_ultimately decided_",
    "_expressed concerns_",
    "_from the_",
    "_started in June_",
    "_an additional_",
    "_community-owned_"
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  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, August 12, 2025 – A remote Michigan island long dependent on DSL will soon be connected to the mainland by a direct fiber link.\n\nPeninsula Fiber Network has begun work on an $87 million middle-mile broadband project designed to connect Beaver Island to the rest of mainland Michigan.\n\nDubbed the infrastructure for Michigan’s peninsulas and critical crossings, or IMPACC Project, it will connect Beaver Island to the rest of Michigan via an _open-access_ fiber network. PFN will provide telecommunications, transport and broadband services.\n\n\n\n_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_\n\n Join the Community! \n\nBeaver Island, located in the northernmost region of Lake Michigan, is the largest island in the lake and has a year-round population _of roughly_ 600 residents, though the population increases substantially in the summer.\n\nResidents of Beaver Island currently depend on DSL or satellite for internet service. The island’s _only terrestrial_ provider, TDS Telecom, has promised to upgrade its networks to allow for speeds of 100 * 20 Megabits per second (Mbps) _in exchange for funding_ from the federal Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model.\n\nThough residents of Beaver Island _petitioned_ the Federal Communications Commission to condition Enhanced ACAM funds on deploying fiber, the commission _ultimately decided_ to adopt a technology neutral approach.\n\nBecause the island was to be served by a provider receiving Enhanced ACAM funds, it was ineligible for funding from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, including funding for a fiber network. Though TDS has promised to deploy fiber on the island, its residents have _expressed concerns_ that it may not follow through on its commitment.\n\nThe IMPACC Project, which received $61.2 million in funding _from the_ National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure program and $26 million in private funding, will build three different routes.\n\nThe first route will connect Byron Center to Benton Harbor to Chicago via on-land and underwater fiber cables. The second route will also use on-land and underwater fiber cables to connect Gulliver to Beaver Island to Charlevoix and Gaylord. The third route, which was _started in June_, will connect Port Huron to Flint via 111 miles of on-land fiber.\n\nSpeaking about the second route, **Jennifer Greenburg** , vice president of government affairs for Peninsula Fiber Network, noted that the company had deliberately chosen to build the route through Beaver Island.\n\n“This route was designed specifically to stop on Beaver Island so that the folks on the island would now have a wired connection,” she said.\n\nThough additional environmental reviews and permits are needed to begin construction on the first and second routes, the projects were expected to be completed by 2028. The project will not only connect Beaver Island to the rest of Michigan, but will also provide the state with _an additional_ fiber network connecting its upper and lower peninsulas. Currently, only one fiber route connects the two peninsulas through Mackinac Bridge.\n\nThough the IMPACC Project will not directly connect locations on the island to the internet, residents have proposed a $9.3 million _community-owned_ fiber-to-the-home network that could use the Middle Mile network to provide broadband service to all 1,130 homes and businesses. A vote on that project has been scheduled for November 2026.\n\n**Dick Mulvihill** , vice president of the Beaver Island Association, was ecstatic about the IMPACC Project.\n\n“It’s a major, major, major win,” he said.\n\n** _Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that 123NET would serve as a retail broadband provider on the Beaver Island project._**",
  "title": "Work Begins on $87M Michigan Middle Mile Project",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T05:47:56.559Z"
}