Federal Broadband Programs

For decades, municipal broadband operations have been subject to a minefield of restrictions and barriers designed to make the prospect of establishing or maintaining a community broadband network costly, difficult, and unsustainable. There are currently 17 states in total that have restrictive legislation against municipal broadband networks in the US.

The National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded the Dilkon Chapter almost $34 million in grants to address broadband needs as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP). Awarded funds will go toward the Broadband Infrastructure Deployment project to install fiber, directly connecting 3,643 unserved Native American households, anchor institutions, and businesses. Additionally, the installation will facilitate a minimum of 25/3 Mbps wireless service.

According to Dr. Karen Mossberger—a professor in the school of public affairs and director of the Center on Technology, Data and Society at Arizona State University—prosperity and income increases correlate with the number of broadband subscriptions in an area, whether it’s rural, urban, or suburban, across all demographics. Further still, “Broadband is important for participation in society,” said Mossberger. “It’s important for economic development as well as individual opportunities.

The US Department of the Treasury approved over $90 million for broadband projects in the state of Vermont under the American Rescue Plan’s (ARPA) Capital Projects Fund (CPF). Vermont will use its funding to connect nearly 14,000 homes and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet. The funding advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to connecting every American household to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. The 13,818 households and businesses represent 22% of locations still lacking high-speed internet access.

After President Joe Biden called on all agencies to reduce or eliminate hidden fees in September 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action to effectively eliminate billions in banking fees. Fees account for tens of billions of dollars in revenue – a substantial source of revenue in many industries, including transportation, banking, internet, and hospitality.  The CFPB's actions work in tandem with other initiatives

The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) and the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) have entered into a Collaborative Workforce Development Agreement to advance critical workforce education and training for the broadband communications industry. With $42.45 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding for broadband infrastructure, in addition to the $80 billion invested annually by the broadband industry, there has never been more demand to build broadband networks. To meet that demand, industry, and government must join hands to address workforce gaps.

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Congress chartered a first-of-its-kind federal effort to help struggling Americans who could not afford to lose access to the internet. The aid proved to be a godsend for millions of low-income families, but it also sent the nation’s telecommunications giants scrambling for the new federal money—unleashing price hikes, service cuts, and fraud risks that hurt customers and taxpayers alike. The story of the government’s roughly $17 billion efforts to close the country’s persistent digital divide is one of great promise and costly peril.

The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program has $42.5 billion available to cover some of the costs of bringing broadband to unserved and underserved rural areas. States will administer the program but must first have a plan approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and, as new research from BroadbandNow shows, some states face an important hurdle as they prepare their plans—a hurdle that involves anti-municipal broadband laws.

Despite billions of dollars in one-time federal relief money to help students learn online at home during the pandemic, the so-called homework gap persists. In fact, some schools have stopped extending students and teachers without reliable internet the connectivity help they provided during the pandemic. Forty-five percent of public schools say they are still offering home internet to students.

In the modern world, high-speed internet access has become an essential utility, just like water, gas and electricity. All those living on the Cherokee Nation Reservation need the ability to participate in the digital economy. Many Americans now take for granted services like telehealth, remote work and access to the vast amount of information and resources for learning and communication online. Unfortunately, broadband access on tribal reservations has badly lagged behind the rest of the country.