Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association advises stakeholders to heed four recommendations regarding the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding program. NTCA’s first recommendation applies to providers that don’t plan to apply for BEAD funding, as well as those who plan to do so. Noting that most states are just beginning the BEAD challenge process, NTCA said the challenge process is critical to determining areas eligible for funding.

Through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, established by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Pennsylvania was allocated over $1.1 billion to deploy or upgrade high-speed Internet networks to ensure that everyone has access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet service.

State budget woes will not derail a major broadband infrastructure project in California, but cuts will be made.

As of June 1, the Affordable Connectivity Program has officially come and gone. Question is, now what?

Myrna Broncho realized just how necessary an internet connection can be after she broke her leg. Broncho needed nine surgeries and rehabilitation that took months.

Congress inserted an interesting requirement into the bill that reauthorizes the funding for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Both the House and Senate added language that would require that a national broadband plan be created that would try to put the Federal Communications Commission, the NTIA, US Department of Agriculture, and other agencies on the same page.

Residential fixed broadband internet access in the United States (US) has long been distributed inequitably, drawing significant attention from researchers and policymakers. This paper evaluates the efficacy of the Connect America Fund (CAF), a key policy intervention aimed at addressing disparities in US internet access. CAF subsidizes the creation of new regulated broadband monopolies in underserved areas, aiming to provide comparable internet access, in terms of price and speed, to that available in urban regions.

In 2019, the Vermont Department of Public Service found that nearly a quarter of Vermont addresses lacked service that met the then federal benchmarks for broadband speeds (25/3 megabits per second, or Mbps). The COVID-19 pandemic only underscored the urgent need in a state that has consistently ranked near the bottom of connectivity comparisons over the past decade. Vermonters saw a lack of interest from private providers to invest in the sparsely populated rural state and recognized that communities needed to address the problem themselves.

The overarching goal of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, established by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is to deploy broadband networks that reach every American and provide access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet. Congress decided to allocate BEAD funds to states and territories since they are best situated to determine the needs of their communities, but it did not change any existing federal authority to oversee broadband or pricing.

Access to affordable, reliable broadband may have once been viewed as a luxury, but there is no question that it has now become an integral part of our daily lives. Similar to how we view electricity and other utilities, internet access is essential in the 21st-century—critical for everything from remote work and job searching, to education and socializing.