Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

The Federal Communications Commission originally budgeted $20.4 billion dollars for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) subsidy program to be spent over ten years. The original RDOF reverse auction offered $16 billion in subsidies. But in a story that is now well known, some entities bid RDOF markets down to ridiculously low subsidy levels, and only $9.4 billion was claimed in the auction. $2.8 billion of this funding ended up in default, including some of the bidders who had driven the prices so low. That means that only $6.4 billion of the original $20.4 billion has been allocated.

At the time the Federal Communications Commission Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program winners were announced, $9.23 billion was committed over 10-years to cover over 5 million Unserved locations.

When it comes to wiring Mississippi, the state is betting on co-ops and small telecommunications companies.

Across the country, states are making critical decisions about how to leverage $80 billion in federal broadband infrastructure funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). With the right planning, these funds could ensure that high-speed internet service will finally reach every single home and business in the country, which has been one of Common Sense Media's top priorities for years.

All states are tackling broadband accessibility in some way, but each is taking its own approach.

The US is a country is covered in cable broadband. More than 86% of the country has access to at least one cable or fiber broadband service according to Federal Communications Commission maps. Only 5% of locations among the 50 states and DC have access to three or more cable or fiber (I’ll call them wired) internet service providers (ISP). Thirty-two percent of locations have access to two wired offerings. And 49% have access to only one wired offering. Importantly, 13.5% of locations have access to zero wired offerings.

Ten years ago, long before the unprecedented amounts of federal funding in rural Internet infrastructure, Roger Heinen watched Islesboro’s population drop precipitously. In 2014, Heinen formed a small volunteer coalition to come up with a solution for the island of under 600 year-round residents. In 2016, voters approved a $3.8 million bond to fund the construction of a fiber-to-the-premises infrastructure capable of speeds of 1 gigabit per second.

In Ammon, Idaho, every home has access to a fiber optic connection with 1 gigabit per second download and upload speeds. It costs roughly $30 per month. And it’s not controlled by a single big company. Nine different providers can offer you that connection.

Oh, the internet — today so many people are online almost constantly. And yet so many people in the US still have a tenuous connection to the internet. But here is the good news. The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, along with a huge number of allies from the civil rights and public interest communities, successfully persuaded Congress to adopt a new program. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a federal program designed to help low-income households pay for broadband internet service.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced $930,021,354.34 to expand middle mile high-speed Internet infrastructure across 35 states and Puerto Rico.