Podcast | How Vermont is tackling three main barriers to broadband adoption

Like all states and territories, Vermont has been hard at work developing plans for the NTIA's Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) grant program; and the companion Digital Equity program. Vermont is scheduled to receive nearly $229 million for BEAD, to close its broadband deployment gaps, and over half a million to implement its Digital Equity Plan, designed to help everyone gain access. Unlike every other state and territory, however, Vermont has been working toward solving its broadband access problem in a unique way over the last decade: by establishing ten Communications Union Districts (CUDs), or groups of towns that form municipal entities to build out communications infrastructure. Currently, Vermont has broadband construction underway for six of its ten CUDs, and the state is taking registrations for a new broadband installer apprenticeship program to get ahead of workforce issues as BEAD dollars start to roll out. In this podcast, we discuss the remaining digital divide in Vermont, including what digital equity officer Britaney Watson says are still the "three major barriers" to broadband adoption in the state.