Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

The Federal Communications Commission established a mechanism by which a participating provider in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) can apply to offer an enhanced monthly discount of up to $75 for broadband services to ACP-enrolled households in a high-cost area, upon the provider’s showing of particularized economic hardship. Now the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau provides additional information on the application process and announces that ACP providers may begin submitting applications on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 seeking approval to offer the high-cost area benefit in a gi

Virginia became the second state in the nation to begin its Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program challenge process, kicking off the process one week after approval of its plan by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Virginia’s challenge process is being carried out through a partnership with Virginia Tech Center for Geospatial Information Technology—to provide the challenge process portal—and Ready, which is supporting Virginia’s challenge effort with its public map and speed test portal. Virginia has identified 134,221 unserved and 27,806 unders

The Oregon Broadband Office (OBO) released the draft State of Oregon Digital Equity Plan which outlines how Oregon will use federal funds to provide reliable, affordable, high-speed internet, computing devices, and digital skills training to people who need it most. OBO developed the draft Digital Equity Plan after a robust public engagement and planning process to capture the diverse voices and lived experiences of all people and to identify the needs and barriers to digital equity. The draft State of Oregon Digital Equity Plan contains seven key sections.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the agency responsible for administering the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, provided notice of a conditional programmatic waiver of the letter of credit requirements set forth in the BEAD Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The BEAD NOFO requires Eligible Entities to establish a model letter of credit substantially similar to the model letter of credit established by the Commission in connection with the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

The Iowa Department of Management received 91 applications for round #8 of the Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Program which is designed to reduce or eliminate areas of the State of Iowa that are unserved or undeserved by broadband service. Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) #008 made $148,960,000 available for broadband expansion in Iowa. Funds for this grant round have been allocated from the American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) Capital Projects Fund ("CPF") to provide a substantial infusion of resources to help turn the tide on the pandemic, address its economic fallout, and lay the f

Congress is discussing a number of different scenarios to continue funding the Affordable Connectivity Program once the remaining funds are depleted, which is projected to happen in the first half of 2024. Several of the scenarios being considered involve changes to the current eligibility criteria. Here we examine the potential impact of lowering the household income eligibility threshold, currently set at 200 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL).

Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI) announced $203 million has been awarded in the first round of the Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) grant program to connect over 70,000 unserved Michigan homes and businesses to high-speed internet. In total, the ROBIN, program will provide $238 million in federal funding to support the deployment of high-speed internet to more than 90,000 unserved locations throughout the st

Charter Communications told the Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) that the company will decline a $6.9 million rural broadband award announced in April.

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 75 percent of the costs to deploy these networks, the chances that competing networks will be built at any time in the foreseeable future are very slim.

In the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress requires Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program subgrantees (the entities that will build and maintain the new broadband networks) to offer "at least one low-cost broadband service option for eligible subscribers." Congress tasked the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which oversees the BEAD Program, to define who the eligible subscribers are—and left it to states, territories, and the District of Columbia (known as "Eligible Entities") to define what low-cost broadband service options a