The Office of Broadband Development, housed within the Missouri Department of Economic Development, released Missouri’s final proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, a federal initiative established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The state plans to invest over $700 million to bring broadband to over 200,000 homes and businesses throughout Missouri.
These homes and businesses are considered “unserved or underserved,” meaning that they lack reliable access to high-speed internet. Missouri had the third most locations in the nation with less than ideal access to internet services, said BJ Tanksley, the director of the Office of Broadband Development.
The final plan hopes to provide 81% of the targeted locations with fiber-based service, all while using less than half of the state’s allocated BEAD funds. The Department of Economic Development said this plan will save nearly $1 billion of the $1.7 billion in allocated federal funds.
“Frankly the $1.7 (billion) was the third largest allocation,” Tanksley said. “It was California and Texas and then Missouri, which means we had a lot of locations without access that we still needed to try to get to, and that’s part of the reason we had such a high allocation in the budget.”
The Office of Broadband Development worked for nearly three years to create the initial proposals for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which oversees the federal program. From there, Tanksley and the department targeted the most optimal locations for implementation based on the availability of service before opening applications to provide grants to recipients around those areas.
The final proposal is another step toward completing Missouri’s largest broadband connectivity investment to date.
“Expanding access to reliable, high-speed internet is essential for Missouri’s future,” Michelle Hataway, director of the Department of Economic Development, said in a news release. “Our final BEAD proposal represents a major step toward helping Missourians prosper by ensuring every household and business has the tools they need to succeed in today’s economy.”
The plan also proposed investing over $450 million in businesses, while leveraging $400 million in private investment. There were 42 internet service providers selected to aid in implementation, with 29 of them being Missouri-based businesses.
Missouri has more internet service providers engaged in the program compared to other states, and Tanksley said that aligns with the Office of Broadband Development’s goal of having a multitude of providers involved.
“We have over 20 subrecipients in this program, meaning different providers that are going to be a part of it, and that’s a huge difference,” Tanksley said. “When you look at some other states, there’s others that are similar, but a lot of states have far less providers involved, and I think that’s a testament to the providers across the state that were willing to take part in the program.”
NTIA will need to approve the final BEAD proposal before the department can begin construction of any projects. Once approved, funded projects will have four years to complete their work, and Tanksley hopes to see physical work begin in early 2026.
