One Year Later, What We Know About the Broadband Infrastructure Program

In late December 2021, President Donald Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, a $2.3 trillion COVID relief and government spending bill that extended unemployment benefits and ensured the government kept running. Through that law, Congress allocated $7 billion to help improve connectivity in the U.S. including a new $300 million broadband deployment grant program at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The aim of the Broadband Infrastructure Program (or BIP) is to support broadband infrastructure deployment to areas lacking broadband, especially rural areas. Here we share what we know about the program so far—especially from the agencies that Congress picked to keep an eye on it.