On 19-Aug-2026, 123NET announced it had finished construction on Allegan County’s countywide fiber network — a roughly $65 million build covering about 1,100 miles of fiber that began in 2022. It is one of the larger county-scale broadband projects in Michigan to actually reach completion rather than remain in planning.
What was built in Allegan County
Allegan County selected 123NET in 2022 to design and build the network. The original scope was about 11,000 addresses in unserved and underserved parts of the county; by completion the network was able to serve roughly 17,000 addresses. The first customers were connected in Shelbyville in late 2023, and construction worked outward across the county from there.
Funding came from three directions: state and federal grant money through Michigan’s ROBIN broadband program, Allegan County’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation, and private capital from 123NET itself. County broadband director Jill Dunham framed the result as a case for public-private partnership on rural builds.
Ottawa County is next, and the BEAD clock has started
123NET is running a comparable grant-funded project in Ottawa County — about 325 miles of new network intended to reach more than 5,000 residents. As of the Allegan announcement, that build was more than 25% complete, with completion targeted for the end of 2026.
Separately, Michigan’s federal BEAD money moved from paperwork into the field. The state signed grant contracts with 17 of the 29 selected award recipients on 26-Aug-2026, clearing those providers to begin permitting and construction. Michigan’s approved plan totals about $1.47 billion — roughly $917 million in federal funds plus $558 million in provider matching money — across 116 project awards covering 197,964 locations. Fiber accounts for about 86% of planned connections and low-Earth-orbit satellite about 12%. Electric cooperatives feature heavily: Midwest Energy & Communications alone received $60 million for 2,726 miles of buried fiber. Each signed contract starts a four-year clock to substantially complete the build.
What this means if you live in Michigan
The Allegan County news is the rare kind you can act on now. If your address is among the roughly 17,000 the network can serve, service is available to order today rather than at some future date. In Ottawa County, the honest answer is later this year, and only for the addresses inside that 325-mile footprint.
The BEAD four-year clock is a program deadline, not a promise about your street. A signed contract in August 2026 does not mean crews arrive this year, and the 12% satellite share means some of the hardest-to-reach Michigan locations are slated for LEO service rather than fiber. Until a build reaches you, Spectrum, Xfinity and AT&T cover much of the state, and T-Mobile home internet or Starlink remain the practical fallbacks in rural areas.
Sources
- 123NET — “123NET Completes Construction on Allegan County Fiber Broadband Network” (19-Aug-2026)
- The Daily Yonder — “All 56 Federal Broadband Plans Approved. Construction Comes Next” (04-Sep-2026)