American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)

The Oklahoma Broadband Office (OBO) is launching an open process for internet service providers (ISPs) to compete for $374 million in America Rescue Plan Act (APRA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery (SLFR) Funds to expand access to reliable and affordable high-speed internet service in Oklahoma. The OBO released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the program.

Northwest Fiberworx, the communications union district (CUD) for 22 northwestern Vermont communities serving 30,000 customers, has signed a deal for fiber-optic broadband with South Royalton-based Great Works Internet (GWI) Vermont. The Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) will provide funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

altafiber's gigabit broadband service is available to most single-family homes and business addresses in the Kentucky counties of Boone, Campbell, and Kenton. The projects were made possible through altafiber (formerly known as Cincinnati Bell) public-private partnerships that were announced in 2021: 

The Department of the Treasury approved $167.7 million for high-speed internet projects in Oklahoma under the American Rescue Plan Act's (ARPA) Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which the state estimates will connect approximately 20,000 homes and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet. Oklahoma is approved to receive funds for broadband infrastructure projects.

The Federal Communications Commission committed nearly $7 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) Program, which provides digital tools and services to support students in communities across the country. The funding commitment supports applications from the third application window, benefitting approximately 50,000 students nationwide, including students in California, Colorado, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The Department of the Treasury approved $158 million in federal funds for broadband infrastructure and multi-purpose community facility projects in Puerto Rico under the American Rescue Plan Act's (ARPA) Capital Projects Fund (CPF). Puerto Rico is approved to receive $85.7 million to improve the resiliency, reliability, and speed of the island’s high-speed inte

Kentucky is investing a record $386 million to expand access in 46 counties, bringing high-speed internet access to more than 42,600 homes and businesses for the first time. The funding will allow providers to run fiber to each location.

Charter and Brightspeed have formally announced broadband funding wins in the latest round of funding through the North Carolina Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) program.

Kwikom--a broadband provider based in Kansas that also serves some markets in Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma--has begun work on fiber deployments in several Kansas markets. Deployments in some of these markets were funded, in part, through a state broadband program and, in part, by funding provided by local governments. The total investment will be $12 million. Over 7,000 homes and businesses will be reached. The markets that will be partially grant-funded include Pomona, Quenemo (KS), and over 20 square miles of rural area between Ottawa and Quenemo.

There are several states already estimating that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant funding is not going to be enough money to reach all of their unserved and underserved areas. California, New Mexico, and Minnesota have estimated that BEAD will fall short. By the time the dust settles there will likely be more states. I’m not surprised by this. Just since the BEAD grant program was enacted by the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act (IIJA) in November 2021, there have been some significant cost increases for building broadband networks.