Louisiana

Brightspeed says that it has received $238 million in local, state, and federal grants and funds. The money, the company says, will expand the number of addresses passed by planned projects by 121,000 in 14 states. Brightspeed, which is based in North Carolina, says that it will continue to pursue state and federal grants. The funding:

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has recommended for award more than $276 million to 44 Tribal entities to expand high-speed Internet access and adoption. The funding from the nearly $3 billion Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program is part of the Biden-Harris Administration's Internet for All Initiative.

On November 18, 2024, Louisiana’s Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity (also known as ConnectLA) posted its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Final Proposal for public comment, which was an historic achievement. Not only did Louisiana finish months ahead of other states, but it appears to have achieved the BEAD program’s objective of getting on a track for universal broadband coverage—and overwhelmingly by means of projects that will use best-in-class, end-to-end f

RightFiber, a brand of Ritter Communications, agreed in principle to acquire the City of Ruston’s fiber optic broadband network in Louisiana. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025. RightFiber will continue serving existing business customers at that time. Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker said, “RightFiber’s personal approach and future-minded vision set them apart as a service provider.

T-Mobile is part of the consortium that won Louisiana's biggest Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) award. However, the company declined to provide much detail about the role it's playing. "We'll be bringing wireless service on our 5G network," a T-Mobile representative wrote. The representative declined to provide details. Thus, it's not clear whether T-Mobile is funding the consortium, or whether it will provide fixed wireless or mobile services to Louisiana's BEAD locations. 

Louisiana is the first state in the nation to award federal Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding through the state’s GUMBO 2.0 program. The state will deploy $1.355 billion in total through these awards to support broadband access throughout the state. GUMBO 2.0 will expand fiber optic connectivity to approximately 140,000 locations across the state, supporting 100,000 households, 35,000 small businesses and 4,000 community anchor institutions such as public safety locations, schools and hospitals.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today has approved and recommended for award applications from Delaware, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Puerto Rico allowing them to request access to more than $68 million to implement their Digital Equity Plans. This funding comes from the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The awards received are:

Amazon is applying for federal funding for broadband Internet providers. And that, according to the CEO of equipment supplier Calix, shows that Amazon is "the wolf in sheep's clothing." "They are applying for BEAD to compete with all of our customers," said Calix CEO Michael Weening. Amazon, Weening said, is "the enemy of every broadband provider out there." BEAD is the Biden administration's Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, and it's designed to funnel $42.45 billion through US states for broadband networks in rural areas.

The state of Louisiana anticipates being the first to award funding in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment rural broadband funding program. The state has a timeline to award its entire $1.3 billion BEAD allocation by a target date of November 1. The state began accepting BEAD applications August 19 and providers have only until August 29 to apply for funding in the first round.

After Louisiana was the first state to have its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding released in late 2023, it was several months before any other states had their funding released. It looked like a sure bet that Louisiana would be the first to make BEAD awards—and, according to Louisiana Broadband Director Veneeth Iyengar, that’s still the case. Montana recently became the first state to begin accepting BEAD applications. Louisiana began accepting applications a few days later, on August 19.