A new $61 million dollar grant awarded to Peninsula Fiber Network will provide internet access through three routes in Michigan.
“We are kind of the start and the facilitator to help all these other homes eventually get the internet service they need,” general manager for PFN Scott Randall said.
The project aims to construct undersea routes between Charlevoix to Beaver Island to Guilliver in the UP, and Benton Harbor to Chicago as well as overland fiber routes connecting Charlevoix to Grayling, Port Huron to Flint and Benton Harbor to Grand Rapids.
“We looked at potential routes that could add additional capacity, add a different way for other telecommunications providers to get between Michigan and Chicago and the Upper Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula,” Randall said. “That’s where we came up with the idea of these underwater cables. It’s really an elegant and a very safe idea, and it’s just going to be a really great thing for the state of Michigan.”
Randall said PFN thinks it is the first company to put underwater telecommunications cables in the great lakes.
PFN said in a release that underwater connection will help prevent internet going out due to protection from severe weather events.
“We connect towns and townships to the rest of the world and that’s a really critical part of how you’re able to deliver internet to these homes in the Upper Peninsula,” Randall said. “They have to be able to connect with the rest of the world, and that’s really what this project is going to help facilitate.”
Randall said one guideline for the grant is that the project must be completed in five years. He is hopeful that the project will be complete in less than that.
“It shows that when the state of Michigan comes together and it tries to accomplish a big task like this together, that we can be very successful,” Randall said.
Note: This story was updated to clarify the routes included in the project.