Specifications include, but are not limited to: 1.1 Through its strategic plan for 2021-22 Allegan County established a priority project to, “Increase the accessible availability of reliable internet connectivity” through the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds or identification/allocation of alternative funds. 1.2 In terms of broadband internet service availability, Allegan County has numerous areas that are considered unserved or underserved per the following FCC definitions: 1.2.1 Unserved addresses are defined as having less than 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. 1.2.2 Underserved addresses are defined as having between 25M down / 3M up and 100 Mbps down / 20 Mbps up. 1.3 It is the County’s desire to make broadband internet services of 100 Mbps or higher accessible to all county residents by providing support to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in building out the wired broadband infrastructure necessary to provide service to the unserved and underserved addresses, collectively defined as the target addresses (“Target Addresses”). 1.4 The County has analyzed customer data provided by ISPs to generate the map included in Exhibit A which shows all Target Addresses identified in Allegan County in a map and list format. 1.5 Public funding programs including, but not limited to, ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act,) CMIC (Connecting Michigan Communities) and BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment) are, and are becoming available, to supplement the private sector investments needed to build the infrastructure necessary to deliver broadband internet services to these Target Addresses identified by the County. 1.6 Indications are that public funding is more likely to be secured by an ISP when the application is made in a manner consistent with a local unit of government’s overall plan for broadband and is supported/endorsed by that local unit of government. Allegan County desires that ISPs pursue and leverage all available funding sources (e.g. grants, capital, programs, loans, etc.) in order to maximize broadband accessibility. 1.7 The County seeks to develop a County-wide comprehensive plan for delivering broadband internet service all Target Addresses based on proposals received from one or several ISPs.
