Nevada's universal access mandate can only be achieved when the internet services offered to consumers are affordable and desirable, and when offering those services makes business sense for a provider.

Affordability is a central tenant of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Science, Innovation and Technology's (OSIT) broadband deployment and digital adoption goals and strategies. If Nevadans cannot afford the monthly recurring costs of internet service, building new last-mile infrastructure is of little effect.

The high cost of broadband service is a major adoption barrier for many Nevada residents, particularly members of covered populations. Low-income residents, who make up over 20 percent of Nevada households, are less likely than the general population to subscribe to a home broadband service.   

Last-mile internet service providers in Nevada told OSIT that the lack of available backhaul in many unserved and underserved markets and the high cost of backhaul where it is available were the largest impediments to offering and expanding affordable, reliable, scalable internet last-mile service to unserved and underserved regions of the state.

Nevada's Middle-Mile Investment

Nevada is investing a quarter billion dollars in thousands of miles of new middle-mile network infrastructure in unserved and underserved regions of the state so that last-mile internet service providers have access to affordable, reliable, scalable upstream bandwidth. Phases I and II of the High Speed Nevada Initiative are largely dedicated to expanding fiber infrastructure throughout the state. Much of the new middle-mile infrastructure will be available to providers on an open access, non-discriminatory basis at very attractive rates in order to encourage and facilitate high-speed last-mile infrastructure where it does not exist today.  

To address the need for middle-mile infrastructure in Nevada, OSIT will create the Nevada Middle Mile Network. To fund the network, Nevada has allocated State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, Capital Projects Fund, and state resources. The Nevada Middle Mile Network is a 2,500-mile open-access, fiber-optic network that will reach many unserved communities in Nevada. Part of the High Speed Nevada Initiative, construction of the middle-mile network will enable OSIT to bring better connectivity to hundreds of unserved K-12 schools, libraries, State and local government facilities, and community anchor institutions in the coming years.

The Nevada Middle Mile Network will also significantly expand network capacity between urban areas of Nevada and throughout rural regions across the state, greatly enhancing the capacity of last-mile networks to deliver affordable, high-speed Internet access to over 40,000 locations that are unserved or underserved today.

OSIT will build ubiquitous, open-access, middle-mile infrastructure that will result in robust, redundant pathways to major internet exchange points, a range of lit middle-mile services offered at affordable pricing comparable to that available in metropolitan areas, and long-term dark fiber available to competing companies.

In June 2024, Zayo broke ground in Reno on a 645-mile fiber network through the Panther Valley and Reno communities in Nevada as well as rural parts of Oregon and northern California that currently have inadequate broadband service. Zayo will build 23 access points in this network to enable ready access to local internet service providers, which will vastly improve the speed and quality of internet service to homes in the area. The project is funded by a $24 million high-speed internet grant from the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. 

Nevada's Northern Nevada Middle Mile program—supported by $73 million from the U.S. Treasury's Capital Projects Fund—focuses on unserved and underserved areas along the rural portion of the I-80 corridor in Northern Nevada, stretching the entire width of the state. The program will build ubiquitous, open-access, middle-mile infrastructure along the I-80 route with robust, redundant pathways to major internet exchange points, a range of lit middle-mile services offered at affordable pricing comparable to that available in metropolitan areas, and long-term dark fiber contractual agreements available to competing companies. OSIT estimates that the project will result in improved access for approximately 42,500 rural locations. The project should be completed by 2026.

Bringing Broadband to Low-Income Housing

In January 2023, the U.S. Treasury approved Nevada's plan to use $55.2 million—41 percent of its total Capital Projects Fund allocation—to connect over 40,000 households and businesses to high-speed internet access. The award is funding Nevada’s Low-Income Multi-Dwelling Units (MDU) Broadband Program, a competitive grant program designed to fund broadband infrastructure to and within low-income housing. Capital Projects Fund support will be used to upgrade internet access in MDUs. 

Each of the internet service providers funded by the program will participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program. However, funding for the ACP expired in June 2024.

The Affordable Connectivity Program in Nevada

Since its inception, the Affordable Connectivity Program helped over 252,494 households in Nevada afford their monthly internet service. There were ACP households in every county in Nevada before the program ended in June 2024 due to a lack of funding. About 48 percent of eligible households in Nevada enrolled in the program, higher than the national average of 37 percent.  

Nevada's Low-Cost Broadband Service Option

OSIT is required by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to define the parameters of a low-cost option, including the specific price and details of the service plan, that all subgrantees will be required to offer to residents of Nevada that qualify.

With Nevada's investment in middle-mile infrastructure, internet service providers will have greater access to low-cost upstream bandwidth. So OSIT expects that BEAD subgrantees will be able to, in turn, offer affordable service plans to residential and business subscribers in areas funded by BEAD. Affordability is expected to drive adoption and uptake rates.  

OSIT will use household income to determine the cost of the low-cost option. OSIT looked to the Federal Communications Commission’s affordability goal which states that 2 percent of disposable income represents the upper limit of affordability for a low-income household for broadband service. Disposable income for a given family is reduced by taxes and is augmented by cash transfers, vouchers, and other public benefits and may therefore be difficult to accurately calculate. OSIT selected 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)  for a family of four ($30,000) to determine if an offering is affordable across the lower end of the income distribution. Using the FCC’s goal of broadband service accounting for no more than 2 percent of a low-income household’s disposable income as a guide and applying the percentage used by the FCC to the household income at 100 percent of the FPL for a family of four equals a not-to-exceed amount of $50 per month. 

OSIT proposes to adopt the following low-cost broadband service option. All providers accepting BEAD funding will be required to offer the following low-cost plan to subscribers who met the qualifications for the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program (or its successor program, if Congress or the FCC establish one) and who are served with BEAD-funded infrastructure. 

• On Tribal Lands or in high-cost areas as determined by the FCC: $75 per month or less, inclusive of all taxes, fees, and charges with no additional non-recurring costs or fees to the consumer. 
• In all other areas, the lower of the following:
  • The cost of an existing, designated low-income plan offered by the subgrantee in non-BEAD markets that is eligible for the ACP benefit, that meets, at a minimum, all other criteria below, including speed and latency requirements, and that is inclusive of all taxes, fees, and charges with no additional non-recurring costs or fees to the consumer; or 
  • $50 per month or less, inclusive of all taxes, fees, and charges with no additional non-recurring costs or fees to the consumer. 
• The subgrantee must commit to offer a low-income plan at this price for the useful life of the network.
• If the Affordable Connectivity Program is not reauthorized by Congress, the monthly, recurring charge for the low-cost plan for subscribers on Tribal Lands and high-cost areas must mirror those of subscribers not on Tribal Lands or high-cost areas. Under the following circumstances, the subgrantee may notify OSIT of an increase to the price of the low-cost plan:  
  • If the subsidy amount of the Affordable Connectivity Program, or its successor programs, is increased by Congress or the FCC, the subgrantee may increase the cost of the low-cost plan to match the subsidy amount. 
  • Given that the monthly cost of the low-cost plan must be inclusive of all taxes and fees, if the federal, state, or local taxes imposed upon the subgrantee increase during the low-cost period, the subgrantee may notify OSIT of plans to increase the price of the low-cost plan by the amount of the tax increase. 
  • Once per year, the subgrantee may notify OSIT of plans to increase the price of the low-cost plan to match an inflationary rate equal to the Consumer Price Index.
• ACP-eligible subscribers must be allowed to apply the subsidy to their monthly bill.
• The plan must provide the greater of (a) typical download speeds of at least 100 Mbps and typical upload speeds of at least 20 Mbps, or the fastest speeds the infrastructure is capable of if less than 100 Mbps/20 Mbps or (b) the performance benchmark for fixed terrestrial broadband service established by the FCC.
• Typical latency measurements of no more than 100 milliseconds.
• Is not subject to data caps, surcharges, or usage-based throttling, and is subject only to the same acceptable use policies to which subscribers to all other broadband internet access service plans offered to home subscribers by the participating subgrantee must adhere.
• In the event the provider later offers a low-cost plan with higher speeds downstream and/or upstream, permits Eligible Subscribers that are subscribed to a low-cost broadband service option to upgrade to the new low-cost offering at no cost. 

BEAD applications will be evaluated on planned efforts to raise awareness of the ACP. Possible awareness activities include advertising (TV, radio, print, billboard, bus/taxi, mail, web, social media, etc.), ACP information prominently displayed on the homepage of the provider’s website, information about ACP prominently placed on the provider’s e-bills or paper bills, training for call center staff and dedication of specific staff for ACP enrollment, and participation in community events. 

Nevada's Middle-Class Affordability Plans

Middle-class affordability is also a central tenant of OSIT’s broadband deployment and digital adoption goals and strategies. During OSIT’s significant statewide outreach and engagement efforts, affordability was one of the most frequently raised topics amongst Nevadans who did not identify as low-income. OSIT developed a comprehensive middle-class affordability strategy with the following elements.

Middle Mile: As noted above, Nevada is investing in thousands of miles of new middle-mile network infrastructure in unserved and underserved regions of Nevada so that last-mile internet service providers have access to affordable, reliable, scalable upstream bandwidth. Much of the new middle-mile infrastructure will be available to providers on an open access, non-discriminatory basis to facilitate high-speed last-mile infrastructure where it does not exist today.  

Adoption: OSIT commits to working closely with awarded subgrantees to drive adoption and uptake rates with non-deployment wrap around services, including, but not limited to, ACP enrollment assistance, digital navigator support, device access support, and digital literacy and skills trainings. 

Scoring Criteria:  OSIT will allocate points based on subgrantees’ commitment to provide the most affordable price. 

The Middle Class Affordability Plan could be termed as a strategy to meet the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s affordability objective.

Conclusion

OSIT understands that affordability is but one component of an individual's decision to adopt; network reliability, access to a device, and digital literacy are all also important parts of the adoption equation. OSIT commits to working closely with awarded subgrantees to drive adoption and uptake rates with non-deployment wrap around services, including, but not limited to, Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) enrollment assistance, digital navigator support, device access support, and digital literacy and skills trainings. 

OSIT understands it does not have the authority to regulate broadband rates. The required low-cost plan detailed and the middle-class affordability strategy are not rate regulations but rather program requirements. OSIT setting a condition for the receipt of a grant is not rate regulation. Participation in the BEAD Program is voluntary. OSIT proposes these plans after careful consideration about how to best achieve the dual aims of robust affordability and adoption and ensuring healthy and robust markets for broadband services. 

Additional Coverage on Nevada Broadband Priorities

• Federal Funding Fuels Nevada's Broadband Initiative
• The Plan for Closing Nevada’s Digital Divide

See the latest Nevada broadband news

More in this Series

• Louisiana's Plan for Affordable Broadband
• Pennsylvania's Plan for Affordable Broadband
• Washington State's Plan for Affordable Broadband
• The Kansas Affordability Plan
• Affordable Broadband for Nevada
• Will BEAD Networks Deliver Affordable Broadband for All in West Virginia?
• Delaware Wants to be the First State to Achieve Universal Broadband—Affordability is a Key Component
• Eliminating the Digital Divide in the District of Columbia Requires a Focus on Affordability

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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