Mon­tana gets fed­er­al approval for new broad­band pro­gram

(The Cen­ter Square) – The U.S. Depart­ment of Com­merce has approved Montana’s pro­pos­al for the Broad­band Equi­ty, Access, and Deploy­ment (BEAD) pro­gram.
Thursday’s action allows Mon­tana to request over $628 mil­lion for the Inter­net pro­gram.
Gov Greg Gian­forte wel­comed the news, adding this brings his administration’s total invest­ment in expand­ing broad­band con­nec­tion to near­ly $1 bil­lion.
“Through this gen­er­a­tional invest­ment, Mon­tana will con­tin­ue lead­ing the nation on expand­ing reli­able, high-speed con­nec­tions and bridg­ing the dig­i­tal divide,” said the gov­er­nor. “We’re unlock­ing doors and cre­at­ing greater access to good-pay­ing jobs, high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion, and afford­able health care.” …