Three years after Congress approved a $42 billion effort to expand internet access across the country, not a single household in Michigan or elsewhere has benefited from those public tax dollars.

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act resulted in a $1.5 billion allocation for Michigan to expand internet access to underserved, mostly rural communities, and the state created a Michigan High-Speed Internet Office to dole out the funding.

In a report last month, the MIHI explained how bureaucratic procedures continue to prevent officials in Michigan from moving forward on the program Gov. Gretchen Whitmer promised will expand access to “over 200,000 Michiganders … across the state,” the Mackinac Center for Public Policy reports.

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

“MIHI received approval from National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on Initial Proposal Volume 2 (IPV2). IPV2 describes the unique subgrant program which will guide the state’s BEAD $1.559 billion funding allocation,” the report read. “However, because NTIA has not yet approved our State Challenge Process results, we do not yet have specific dates for Michigan’s BEAD Project Application Window. These will be announced as soon as we are able to establish them.”

That means it’s unlikely Michigan’s BEAD program will get underway until at least 2025, though some suggest there’s other problems on the horizon once it is.

The MCPP pointed to a 2024 report from Citizens Against Government Waste that reviewed BEAD spending plans for all states and awarded Michigan’s a “special dishonorable mention” because it will “dictate specific prices providers must charge to score well in the competitive application process.

“This requirement will stifle further investment in broadband infrastructure and make it more difficult to spend the BEAD funding effectively and reduce the digital divide,” the report read.

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

“As a matter of basic economics, BEAD price controls will deter supply and lead to shortages – in this case, shortages of experienced, capable (internet service providers) willing to participate in the government’s $42 billion program to build out broadband infrastructures in locations, mostly rural, that remain unserved,” according to a different report from the Free State Foundation published on Sept. 9. “This is not an acceptable outcome.”

The prediction is already coming true in Minnesota, where Minnesota Telecom Alliance CEO Brent Christensen told the Minnesota Post this summer that exactly “zero” members plan to participate in the program due to similar price caps and wage mandates in Minnesota’s plan.

“To put those obligations on small rural providers is a hell of a roadblock,” Christensen said. “Most of our members are small and can’t afford to offer a low-cost option.”

Another issue with Michigan’s BEAD plan is it “appears designed to divert as much funding away from rural and truly unserved areas as possible,” according to the MCPP. “Instead, MIHI is seeking to replace existing wireline connections with more expensive fiber for politically-favored areas that already have excellent internet access.”

The think tank juxtaposes the situation with efforts by Elon Musk-owned Starlink to expand high-speed internet that began just months before Congress created the BEAD program.

“During roughly the same time period in which the BEAD program administrators have been working on processes for distributing government funding, Starlink has connected more than 3 million households and businesses to the internet,” the MCPP reported. “Starlink is reaching the very people the Michigan High-Speed Internet office should be targeting, with 85 percent of Starlink’s subscribers in rural areas.”

The ordeal translates into a years-long boondoggle tying up Michigan’s promise to bring “internet to all,” but the state is not alone.

Only three states – West Virginia, Montana, and Louisiana – have even began accepting applications for the BEAD program, and none have yet to supply any of the $42 billion taxpayers are contributing to carry it out.