Digital Equity/Digital Inclusion

Few people dispute the vital importance of affordability in closing the digital divide.

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program—established by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—gives priority to projects that will result in broadband internet access service being offered in areas where service wasn't available before. Given that federal funds will provide roughly 75 percent of the costs to deploy these networks,¹ the chances that competing networks will be built at any time in the foreseeable future are very slim.

A few years ago, an assessment of Alaska’s broadband needs suggested an investment of nearly $2 billion would be needed to bring high-speed connections to everyone in the nation’s largest state. The National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) awarded Alaska just over $1 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program 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

Charter Communications' top executive appears to be warming up to the Biden administration’s $42.5 billion broadband expansion program. However, he said it will still depend on individual state rules. Charter CEO Christopher Winfrey has previously expressed disappointment with the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program’s rules around capped plans for low-income households and labor standards. He emphasized the company would stay out of states, which have some flexibility in implementing the program, where rules were unfavorable. 

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Idaho, North Dakota and American Samoa’s Initial Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.  This approval enables Idaho, North Dakota, and American Samoa to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program. This action allows states and territories to request:  

• Idaho: Over $583 Million
• North Dakota: Over $130 Million
• American Samoa: Over $37 Million

In Montana, over 63,400 Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs) remain unserved and nearly 24,000 remain underserved. The Montana Broadband Office’s vision is to close the digital divide in support of Montana’s economic, workforce, health, and educational goals by ensuring reliable, affordable internet access for everyone in the state.

We don’t need any more delays in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant process, but there are potential delays on the horizon due to the political calendar. What do I mean by political calendar? There is going to be a new president in the White House, and that means a change in many of the people who run various cabinets and agencies. It could mean a new head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is run by an Assistant Secretary of Commerce.

Consolidated Communications has won over $200 million in broadband funding, said the company’s vice president of market development, Sarah Davis. Most of the broadband funding that Consolidated has received was for New England, where the company is a major provider, Davis said. The company is currently gearing up to bid for funding in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program in several states that it serves, she added. Consolidated’s latest win was $11.8 million through New Hampshire’s Broadband Matching Grant Initiative (BMGI) Program.