Constructing the Digital Landscape: Highlights of NTIA’s Middle Mile Program

Generations before us built infrastructure such as electricity, water, and sewer systems to serve everyone in America. Now, it is our generation’s turn to connect everyone in America to the tools they need to thrive in the modern digital economy through reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet service. In 2023, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded nearly $980 million to deploy over 12,500 miles of new middle mile fiber through the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure (Middle Mile) Program to 36 organizations across 40 states and territories. This investment will build new and resilient Internet highways that help lower the cost for last-mile providers to deploy future networks and increase end users' access to reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet service.  As a highlight of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Infrastructure Week, NTIA held a public webinar featuring three Middle Mile Program recipients that aim to fill the gaps in our nation’s middle mile infrastructure and advance NTIA’s national goals of increasing connectivity, affordability, and equity. These projects highlight the diversity of middle mile infrastructure needs across the country.