American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)

Gov Kay Ivey (R-AL) has awarded nearly $42 million for “last-mile” high-speed internet projects in 23 Alabama counties. The latest Capital Projects Fund grants will cover 2,347 miles and provide broadband availability to more than 15,000 households, businesses and community anchor institutions in the state that currently do not have access to high-speed internet. In February 2024, Governor Ivey awarded $148.3 million in Capital Projects Fund grants for broadband accessibility in more than two-thirds of the state’s 67 counties. The grants awarded today are from the remaining funds.

Pretty much everybody in the industry agrees that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant process has taken too long. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act legislation that authorized BEAD was signed into law in November 2021. A few states are now opening a grant portal to accept BEAD grant applications—nearly three years after the legislation was passed. Not all grant programs have taken this long. An interesting contrast to BEAD is another huge-dollar federal grant program, the Capital Project Fund (CPF).

In May 2022, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published an oft-quoted report that described federal funding for broadband as a “fragmented, overlapping patchwork.” Despite more than 100 broadband-related programs investing millions of dollars into deployment, affordability, planning, digital skills, and connective devices, GAO found that “millions of Americans still lack broadband, and communities with limited resources may be most affected by fragmentation.” GAO asked the National Telecommunications and Information Administra

Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL) awarded nearly $42 million for “last-mile” high-speed internet projects in 23 Alabama counties. The latest Capital Projects Fund grants will cover 2,347 miles and provide broadband availability to more than 15,000 households, businesses, and community anchor institutions in the state that currently do not have access to high-speed internet. Those awarded grants (listed alphabetically) and coverage areas are:

The city of Superior (WI) recently broke ground on a city-owned fiber network that aims to lower costs and provide more reliable internet service for residents. Utility crews began installing tubes that house fiber optic cables for the first phase of the ConnectSuperior network in a neighborhood near the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

The buildout of broadband is well underway in Vermont, with eight out of the state’s ten Communications Union Districts (CUDs) currently connecting customers. But for Vermonters who live more than 400 feet from the fiber line along the road, that connection can come at a cost that’s unaffordable.

Mayor Muriel Bowser (D-DC) announced the U.S. Treasury Department has awarded $61.3 million from the American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) Capital Projects Fund to support the construction of community facilities across the District of Columbia.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB or Bureau) announced that certain Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) census block groups (CBG) are now eligible for other funding programs.

When the state of Kentucky made plans to award $300 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for broadband deployments, the priority was on getting high-speed service to the neediest areas first. “Our priority with the ARPA funding was reaching areas that had no service,” said Meghan Sandfoss, executive director of Kentucky’s Office of Broadband Development. The state awarded the $300 million in ARPA funding in two rounds.

Governor Tate Reeves announced that the Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) recently approved nine broadband expansion projects to be funded by the Capital Projects Fund (CPF). These nine projects will provide $21.6 million of grant funding to expand internet service to approximately 12,300 households in communities across the state. Approved projects by provider are as follows: