Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded seven grants totaling $3,449,227.56 to seven Tribal entities as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP).  With funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, these new grants bring the total of the program to more than $1.79 billion awarded to 198 Tribal entities. Record investments in high-speed Internet deployment are a key part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.

In July, the West Virginia Department of Economic Development (WVDED) released the state's Draft Digital Equity Plan for public comment, asking stakeholders to weigh in on WVDED's strategy for bridging the digital divide. West Virginia’s Digital Equity Plan is a five-year, action-oriented roadmap for the WVDED—in collaboration with statewide partners—to ensure that every West Virginian can participate in today's increasingly digitally connected society.

The Federal Communications Commission recently implemented an increase in the monthly Affordable Connectivity Program subsidy in qualifying high-cost areas from $30 to $75. The reason for the change is easy to understand – this was codified in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) legislation.

Since the late 1990s Colorado has tried to expand access to high-speed broadband. It’s been done in starts and stops, and sometimes not at all. Now Colorado is getting a huge amount of federal money, more than $826 million in Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding that was part of the 2021 infrastructure law to help expand broadband internet across the state and the country.

Governor Kristi Noem (R-SD) and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) announced the final round of funding that will award up to $27 million to connect rural South Dakota to high-speed broadband. The Connect SD broadband program has connected tens of thousands of households and businesses to high-speed broadband since Governor Noem took office in 2019. Over $269.5 million has been invested into broadband expansion in South Dakota. This investment will be crucial for South Dakota’s workforce development and future economic efforts.

On August 21, 2023, the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development released its Draft Digital Opportunity Plan for public comment. According to the plan, Minnesota's vision for digital equity is a future where digital equity connects all Minnesota residents to opportunities, options, and each other. The Office of Broadband Development created this plan following extensive stakeholder engagement and digital equity data collection.

Broadband mergers and acquisitions have increased five-fold over the last 10 years, according to Jeff Brown, segment marketing manager for Calix. And Brian Vu, chief investment officer for Connect Humanity, estimates that there are about 50 investment funds at an average size of $2.5 billion that have invested or could invest in broadband. All that could be good news at a time when some industry observers are questioning w

Cuba City Telephone Exchange Co. and Cal-Ore Communications notified the Federal Communications Commission of their decisions to withdraw from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support program. Cuba City and Cal-Ore’s letters constitute notification to the FCC that these carriers are defaulting on their obligations to meet their service milestones.

AT&T is no stranger to public-private partnerships, with deals in place with municipal entities in Indiana, Kentucky and Texas to name a few.

Some states will be filing their initial proposals in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding program soon if they haven’t already—and once the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approves a state’s proposal, the state will be eligible to receive 20 percent of its allocation of funds.