The ConnectMT application window closed on April 29, 2022, for $266 million in allocations from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The State of Montana received 80 requests from 24 applicants in 30 counties to serve 158,019 locations. Applicants requested a total of $521,488,380 to fund $715,507,870 in projects. There were $182,584,410 in matching funds for the proposed projects. Proposals included 74 fiber to the premises projects for over $470 million in requests, 6 fixed wireless projects for over $37 million in requests, and 2 combination (fixed wireless and fiber) projects for over $13 million in requests. The attached spreadsheet highlights the summary of all projects submitted by each applicant. The statewide broadband map has also been updated to reflect the proposed service areas for each application.

The State of Montana received 59 Challenge Applications. The challenge application window was open from May 6, 2022, through June 4, 2022, for applicants to provide information on requested funding regarding locations that are either currently served or where other federal funding sources are already committed to provide service to proposed locations in an application.  Due to the volume of Challenge Applications, notifications related to the challenge process were issued via email on June 24, 2022. The State thanks all providers who participated in the Challenge Process. ConnectMT is allowing applicants who have been successfully  challenged a Five (5) business day window to revise and resubmit their application via Submittable. Business days are defined by the Montana state legislature as all days except Sundays and observed holidays. The deadline for revised applications is June 30, 2022 at 11:59 pm MDT.