Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

As states gear up to allocate Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) money, the challenges of permitting are top-of-mind for all parties involved in the process. To ensure that local governments and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can reduce broadband network construction challenges, The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, in partnership with the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy, the American Association for Public Broadband, Fiber Broadband Association, Brightspeed, and GFiber, held a summit earlier to discuss the issues and recommend solutions

Electric co-ops are uniquely positioned to apply for, and win, Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds because they already reach most of the homes in the U.S. that are currently unserved with broadband. But the question is: do co-ops even want to apply for BEAD? Cliff Johnson, head of the Rural Broadband Initiative with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) says electric co-ops are uniquely positioned to serve broadband to remote and rural customers.

More than nine out of 10 American households now have an internet subscription, according to new Census data released on Sep 12. That's a significant leap forward from the 76.7% the Census Bureau reported in 2015. When you dig into the census numbers, it becomes clear that the majority of new internet subscribers came from the lowest income groups.

Cox’s lawsuit is both misleading and unsupported by facts. The $108.7 million in federal funds allocated to Rhode Island through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program is a transformative opportunity designed to close the digital divide in our state by ensuring every resident has access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet. The State of Rhode Island was awarded these funds only after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration approved the state’s Initial Proposal.

Digital safety is a growing concern among experts and lawmakers, and among those surveyed for state digital equity planning efforts. Digital risk impacts everyone who interacts directly with internet-enabled devices as well as those exploited, marginalized, or surveilled by algorithmic and data-dependent systems. My latest research examines the tensions between the goals of:

XKL confirms its compliance with Build America Buy America (BABA). The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD), part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), will provide $42.45 billion in funding to states to support the deployment of high-speed broadband internet access to underserved areas. Subgrantees (service providers) must maintain BABA compliance through the life of their BEAD-funded projects, directly influencing vendor selection.

A tug-of-war over the McKee administration's proposed use of $108 million in federal "internet for all" dollars has evolved into a lawsuit by Cox Communications against Rhode Island. Cox is seeking to stop the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation from using a "flawed mapping and challenge process to build redundant broadband internet infrastructure in some of Rhode Island’s wealthiest communities ...

This document was created to support applicants in applying for the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program: Native Entities (2024). The Notice of Funding Opportunity establishes a competitive process to make both State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program funds and State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program funds available to Native Entities to carry out digital equity and inclusion activities consistent with the Digital Equity Act. Proposed projects should address barriers to digital equity and promote:

A recent Politico article quoted a National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) spokesperson as saying that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program was intended to be completed on a 10-year cycle. This is the first time I’ve heard that BEAD was intended to be a 10-year plan. States will be making BEAD awards starting sometime in 2025.

Funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) lapsed in May 2024, ending a monthly subsidy that 23 million households nationwide had been using to afford high-speed internet connections. The program’s lapse means many rural, low-income, and other vulnerable households are losing access to internet connections.