Massachusetts Broadband Institute

The mission of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) is to extend affordable high-speed Internet access to all homes, businesses, schools, libraries, medical facilities, government offices and other public places across our state. 

Governor Deval Patrick created the Massachusetts Broadband Institute when he signed the Broadband Act into law in August 2008. The Act gives the MBI the authority to invest up to $40 million of state bond funds in necessary and long-lived infrastructure assets—such as conduits, fiber-optic cable and wireless towers—according to a comprehensive broadband plan that the MBI is designing and will execute. 

The first step of this plan is to assess existing broadband availability,

resources, and needs throughout the Commonwealth. In partnership with MassGIS, MBI is already conducting a detailed mapping project, focusing on western Massachusetts, where the digital divide is most acute, to determine which locations within each community lack any broadband access. The MBI is also collaborating intensively with other government agencies to understand how their resources can contribute to the MBI’s mission, and how the MBI’s investments can help address their needs.

The MBI has also begun engaging with private broadband firms, both large and small, to develop the co-investment partnerships expected to provide service to the public based on the MBI’s assets. The MBI will make limited and strategic public investments that leverage the use of public dollars to incentivize private investment from providers to supply complete broadband solutions to customers in unserved and underserved areas.

As a result of these efforts, the MBI is well positioned to move quickly and apply for significant federal stimulus funds available for broadband grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009. The MBI anticipates submitting a proposal for federal broadband funding during the summer of 2009 once the competitive grant guidelines are issued. The MBI envisions its first application for funding to include the broadband needs of western Massachusetts, as well as thoughtful and credible applications from other regions of the state to ensure balance and full attention to the Commonwealth’s diverse broadband needs.