American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)

The Healey-Driscoll Administration, in partnership with Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's (MassTech) Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI), awarded $45.4 million in grants through the state’s Broadband Infrastructure Gap Networks Program, a program funded through the U.S.

Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL) awarded nearly $53.5 million to continue the expansion of high-speed internet service in Alabama. The grant awarded to the Alabama Fiber Network, a coalition of electric and generation/transmission cooperatives, will help develop the second phase of the state’s “middle-mile” broadband network deployment. The project will impact 24 Alabama counties.

Vermont Community Broadband Board has awarded a $20.2 million construction grant to Communications Union District (CUD) Northwest Fiberworx. The grant was awarded at VCBB’s May meeting and comes from the Broadband Construction Program, a State of Vermont grant funded with American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

To bridge the digital divide, the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) will award Kinetic $4.4 million to bring high-speed fiber internet to unserved areas in two counties. This grant will enable Kinetic to significantly expand its fiber-optic network in Cabarrus and Union counties by the end of 2026, bringing gigabit internet speeds to 1,392 previously unserved locations. Kinetic will invest $1.9 million of private capital in this fiber-to-the-home project and cover any cost overruns.

Wyoming-based Visionary Broadband’s got quite the resume in both the fiber and wireless space. Visionary won nearly $27 million in ARPA grant awards to provide fiber broadband in remote areas of Wyoming. It’s also got a foothold in Colorado, Montana and Washington state. State grants have helped Visionary recently gain seven new markets, said CEO Brian Worthen. Those include three markets in Colorado, two in Montana and two in Wyoming.

Governor Tate Reeves (R-MS) announced that the Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) recently approved 24 broadband infrastructure projects to be funded by the Capital Projects Fund (CPF). BEAM anticipates additional CPF projects to be approved on a rolling basis throughout the summer. These initial CPF projects will provide approximately $70.9 million of grant funding to build internet service to approximately 27,000 households in 19 counties across the state. Approved project locations by county are:

Across North Carolina, 63 community service, nonprofit, higher education and regional organizations will get $30 million in Digital Champion grants to help North Carolinians access and use high-speed internet.

The latest broadband public-private partnership comes from Ziply, which will bring fiber broadband at speeds up to 50Gbps symmetrically to Camaro Island, Washington. The deployment will require an investment of almost half a million dollars, some of which will come from Ziply and some of which will come from Island County.

Governor Eric Holcomb (R-IN) announced an additional $81.5 million in the final round of the Next Level Connections Broadband Grant Program. The fourth round of the grant program leveraged 17 telecommunications providers and utility cooperatives contributing more than $135 million in matching funds, resulting in more than $216 million total investment for broadband.

A fair reading of Dr. John Horrigan’s work would start by adopting his insight that the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is part of a three-legged stool that during the pandemic helped increase broadband adoption and sustain it for low-income households.