By Greg WeaverFPI NewsINDIANAPOLIS – For years, reliable high-speed internet has remained out of reach for thousands of rural Hoosiers. The federally funded Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, better known as BEAD and first approved by Congress in 2021, is expected to bring high-speed internet service to about 123,000 Indiana homes and businesses that currently have inadequate internet or no service at all. Abplanalp said the earlier state-funded expansion already has demonstrated how reliable internet can reshape a rural economy. With fiber service, those disruptions disappeared. Nationally, the program is expected to connect nearly 5 million homes, businesses and community institutions to high-speed internet.