BATON ROUGE— Governor Jeff Landry announced a nearly $1.5 billion dollar investment in broadband internet infrastructure. 

Landry says the project, dubbed the Grant Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) 2.0, will increase internet access around the state and support thousands of households and businesses. The program uses federal funding awarded to the state from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act  passed by Congress in 2021.  

"I am convinced we are going to beat all the other states in being able to get this money implemented in the most effective, efficient and best way possible," Landry said.

The program is being implemented by the state's Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity created in 2020. Veneeth Iyengar, executive director of ConnectLA, says he hopes the new program will solve internet connectivity issues common in the rural parts of the state.

"This is an issue where there is absolute alignment between the governor, the legislature, all of U.S. stakeholders to singularly solve this problem. We're going to do it as quickly as possible," Iyengar said. 

Iyengar says 33 different internet service providers are working with the program to help the selected addresses get service. ConnectLA will receive the results of the program in six to eight weeks. 

Landry says the program is projected to create at least 8 thousand new jobs and will increase the state's GDP by at least $1.3 billion dollars. 

The new grant program is an expansion of GUMBO 1.0, which launched in 2021. Over 80,000 addresses across 50 parishes were given internet access under the initial program.  

WBRZ has previously reported that access to the program could be blocked in some parishes due to a law passed earlier this year which blocks GUMBO funding to any city or parish that imposes franchise fees for broadband services.