A fiber optic network will be expanded west on US-2 from St. Ignace to Ironwood, and on US-41 from Calumet to Menominee, said the Peninsula Fiber Network (PFN), which has received a $69 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Construction of the 600 miles of fiber optic cable, which will be added to 800 miles already installed, will begin next spring and is required by the grant to be completed in two years. Communities west of St. Ignace, including Brevort, Manistique, and Escanaba, will begin seeing new services from wireless carriers available to them by the fall of next year, said Thom Sumbler, a spokesman for the company.

PFN and the Michigan Educational Research Information Triad (MERIT) applied for the grant, which proposes to make high-speed Internet affordable to rural areas in the Upper Peninsula. The grant was approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

“In the U.P., we'll literally have absolutely world class service,” said Mr. Sumbler. “You won't be able to buy better transmission services.”

Ultimately, the cable will connect to networks in Green Bay and Duluth, giving it the capacity to link to networks across the country.

“You'll see a scad of new players to provide end-user service,” he said. “There's a lot of pressure in the market, and a lot of people to serve the small pockets” in rural areas.

Because the network will connect to multiple locations, it is fully redundant, Mr. Sumbler said, meaning that if the cable happens to get cut, it will automatically be rerouted to connect to another network. The redundant service will authorize PFN to provide connectivity to hospitals, 911 services, and schools, he said.