Universal Broadband

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved and recommended for award an application from Wisconsin, allowing the state to request access to more than $13 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. Wisconsin will use the $13,248,029 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 an application from West Virginia, allowing the state to request access to more than $9 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. West Virginia will use the $9,011,588 in funding to implement key digital equity initiatives, including:

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today has approved and recommended for award applications from Alabama and Utah, allowing them to request access to more than $20 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 will use the funding to implement key digital equity initiatives.

Alabama: $13,702,566

Subsidies like the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) are unaffordable and set communities up for failure, according to Eric Sasaki, the manager of major programs at L.A. County’s internal services department. To address the digital divide in Los Angeles County, Sasaki said the county has chosen another path. “We were very flexible in terms of how we approached our model,” Sasaki said.

Broadband is one of the last remaining, truly bipartisan issues, according to Chip Pickering, the CEO of Incompas. Pickering said there might be a movement in Congress to restore and modernize broadband subsidies to help low-income earners afford services. “It is a national consensus and commitment of connecting every American,” said Pickering, who also served for 12 years in Congress representing Mississippi’s 3rd congressional district.

AT&T subsidiary Wisconsin Bell last recently reiterated its argument to the Supreme Court that telecommunications companies should not be hit with tougher fines for fraudulent reimbursement requests to a major broadband subsidy program. The company is seeking to overturn a Seventh Circuit ruling that found the False Claims Act applies to reimbursements from the E-Rate program, a broadband subsidy for schools and libraries funded by the $8-billion-per-year Universal Service Fund.

With a federal court recently declaring the funding mechanism for a major low-income connectivity program unconstitutional, telecommunications policy experts are actively discussing alternative solutions to keep essential broadband programs funded. Roslyn Layton, executive vice president of Strand Consult, met with the Federal Communications Commission to propose expanding the $8.1 billion Un

On Light Reading's The Divide, Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association, talks to host Nicole Ferraro about the fallout from the fifth circuit court's ruling this summer on the constitutionality of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and what comes next.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved and recommended for award an application from New York, allowing the state to request access to more than $36 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. New York will use its $36,984,641 in funding to implement key digital equity initiatives, including:

Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s (MassTech) Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) is awarding $1.33 million to Massachusetts communities as part of their new Municipal Digital Equity Implementation Program.