Legislation

Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said Congress should fund the $8.1 billion Universal Service Fund through annual appropriations. “I do think that the time has come for Congress to shift this to a general appropriation,” said Pai, FCC chairman from 2017 to 2021. “[If USF were funded by appropriation] we wouldn’t have this situation now where we’re essentially getting more and more money from a declining base of contributors.”

Otis, Massachusetts, isn’t the sort of place you expect to spend a lot of time online. For Kirsten Paulson, who lives part time in Otis, that’s all a selling point. Another major one: Her internet service is better here than at her home outside Washington (DC). That’s because the town of 1,500 people built its own network to fill in the gaps left by private providers, which don’t offer high-speed internet in Otis.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is expected to soon begin distributing $1.25 billion in grants to nonprofits under the “Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program” (Program) “to support efforts to achieve digital equity, promote digital inclusion activities, and spur greater adoption of broadband among Covered Populations.” The Program’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) establishes that applicants must use the funding to serve members of “Covered Populations,” defined to include “individuals who are members of a racial or ethnic minority group.” This

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved and recommended for award an application from Vermont, allowing the state to request access to more than $5 million to implement its Digital Equity Plan. This funding comes from the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  Vermont will use the $5,299,150 in funding to implement key digital equity initiatives, including:  

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved and recommended for award applications from Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming, allowing them to request access to more than $100 million to implement their Digital Equity Plans. This funding comes from the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The states can request access to:

Fiber deployment has significant incremental economic benefits even in the presence of other high-speed broadband technologies. The report also argues that because private actors will not capture all the benefits of fiber deployment the marketplace will not deploy enough fiber on its own. Based on these findings we suggest a few policy takeaways:

Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) is pleased to announce the availability of $8 million in additional funds for the state’s broadband buildout. The money is interest earned on initial American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money that the General Assembly entrusted to the Vermont Community Broadband Fund.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently released the 5th version of the National Broadband Map, with data as of June 2024. At a high level, the trend continues of fewer and fewer unserved and underserved locations: in the previous version, 8.8 million locations were unserved or unserved. Now, with six months more data, we’re down to 7.5 million locations needing better broadband service. That’s an 15 percent decrease over one six-month period.

There has been a lot of speculation since the election that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program is going to get revamped. This raises the interesting question if it’s too late for a new administration to make major changes to the BEAD program. There is also the question of the process needed to change the BEAD rules. The BEAD rules were created by Congress, and it seems that Congress would have to act to change the rules. There are several ways the administration could give more funding for satellite.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration understands that expanding digital equity advances Native nations and Indigenous communities’ access to critical services such as education, healthcare, and economic development. This year, NTIA is highlighting a key funding opportunity through our Digital Equity Act Programs, which provide vital support to Native entities working to bridge the digital divide.