Federal Broadband Programs

There's a wave of jobs that will result from $1.2 trillion in direct government spending from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The year 2023 could prove to be a volatile year for the Federal Communications Commission as it wrestles with a number of lawsuits concerning its Universal Service Fund (USF) program.

It is unfortunate timing that the new Federal Communications Commission broadband map was issued in the middle of the process of trying to determine the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant funding. Congress said that the amount of funding that will go to each state must be based upon the FCC map – and the first draft is clearly flawed. However, assuming that that grant funding question gets resolved somehow, there remains the bigger issue of whether the new FCC map will ever accurately portray broadband availability.

As part of his $45 billion Rebuild Illinois investment strategy, Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) launched a statewide initiative, Connect Illinois, in August 2019 to expand broadband access across the entire state.

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NM) and Jacky Rosen (D-NM) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission asking the body to reconsider maps drafted for the Silver State's broadband Internet connectivity, calling the drafts "deeply flawed" and warning that such maps could perpetuate the digital divide among the state's urban and rural areas.

In November 2021, President Joe Biden (D) signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law.

Back in August 2022, the U.S. Treasury approved Indiana's plans to use $187 million of Capital Projects Fund support for its Next Level Connections program. That was 92 percent of the state's total Capital Projects Fund and earmarked to provide funds for the deployment of broadband infrastructure to provide eligible broadband service to unserved end users, which include households, businesses and community anchor institutions, such as schools and health clinics, across Indiana.

Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) announced over $234 million in 29 preliminary grant awards for broadband internet expansion through the Capital Projects Fund Grant Program. These awards will improve connectivity for communities, households, businesses, and anchor institutions in 28 Georgia counties.

The Federal Communications Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau reminds potential applicants that complete applications to the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program (ACP Outreach Grant Program) must be received electronically through Grants.gov no later than 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Monday, January 9, 2023.