State

Consolidated Communications will provide access to high-speed Internet for thousands of people in New Hampshire as soon as 2024 after the New Hampshire Executive Council approved giving it $40 million in federal funding. The panel unanimously authorized using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money for a three-year contract to make fiber-optic broadband available to nearly 25,000 homes, including almost 3,100 in Cheshire County. Consolidated has also pledged to add another 32,000 homes in the project area using its own money, but it didn’t have a county-by-county breakdown for these additiona

An effort to boost awareness of the year-old Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is getting more local after earlier attempts to promote it statewide resulted in just 23% of eligible Colorado households signing up to get up to $30 off their internet bills. To get the rest of the 77% signed up, state officials feel that the campaign needs to go analog and provide help right in local libraries, schools, and community centers.

The US Department of the Treasury announced the approval of broadband projects in South Carolina under the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The state estimates it will use its funding to connect over 31,000 homes and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet—representing 23% of locations still lacking high-speed internet access..

The Texas Comptroller's Office intent to solicit an initial round of grant applications totaling $120 million for broadband infrastructure projects as part of the Bringing Online Opportunities to Texas (BOOT) program. The BOOT program will support broadband infrastructure projects in eligible areas that bring reliable, affordable internet service to communities in need.

In a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) expressed concerns about the Federal Communications Commission's new National Broadband Map and urged the NTIA to provide states with flexibility in determining locations and areas eligible for funding in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

One of the most interesting aspects of the upcoming Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants is that the Infrastructure Ivestment and Jobs Acy requires states to solicit feedback from the public. I can’t recall that ever happening with any grants in the past—normally the rules are handed down from on-high, and that’s that. States have to solicit feedback on two grant programs. First will be each state’s share of the $42.5 billion of BEAD broadband infrastructure grants. Second is the state’s portion of $1.44 billion in digital equity grants.

Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL) awarded nearly $25 million in grants to expand broadband services throughout the state. The nine grants, totaling $24.72 million, were awarded to broadband providers across the state to support projects in unserved or underserved areas of Alabama. The completed projects will enable nearly 20,000 households, businesses, and community anchors to have access to high-speed internet. Households and businesses must subscribe to paid services to receive broadband.

States are poised to play a critical role in the broadband funding landscape, but each state has a different approach to selecting broadband projects and administering funds.

On April 6, 2022, Sen Shelley Moore Capito wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel about pole attachment and replacement regulations in West Virginia. On February 22, Chairwoman Rosenworcel reminded Sen. Capito that, since 2020, West Virginia regulates pole attachments at the state level. This means that the state retains complete authority to deviate from the federal regime to suit the particular needs of West Virginia.

The US Treasury Department awarded Kansas $15 million for digital equity work, with the money going toward public Wi-Fi, digital skills training, and more. In addition, 20 other states have applied for digital equity funding from the same source, with other awards expected to be made soon. “Kansas is just the first of many more to come,” said Joseph Wender director of the Treasury Department's Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which is part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).