FCC RELEASES BROADBAND FUNDING MAP
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USDA Offers New Funding to Promote the Expansion of High-Speed Internet in Rural Areas
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| Contact: press@oc.usda.gov NEWS RELEASE USDA Offers New Funding to Promote the Expansion of High-Speed Internet in Rural Areas $20 million in Technical Assistance Funding is Available to Plan High-Speed Internet Projects in Rural Communities WASHINGTON, April 17, 2023 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the availability of $20 million to deliver broadband technical assistance resources for rural communities, and to support the development and expansion of broadband cooperatives. USDA is offering the funding under the new Broadband Technical Assistance Program. The program supports technical assistance projects such as conducting feasibility studies, completing network designs and developing broadband financial assistance applications. Funding is also available to help organizations access federal resources, and to conduct data collection and reporting. “USDA is committed to making sure that people, no matter where they live, have access to high-speed internet. That’s how you grow the economy – not just in rural communities, but across the nation,” said USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small. “USDA is partnering with small towns, local utilities and cooperatives, and private companies to increase access to this critical service which in turn boosts opportunity and helps build bright futures.” To learn more, read the full news release. |
Show-Me MO Success Podcast – Episode 7: Broadband Access in MO
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This episode of the Show-Me MO Success podcast elaborates on the Digitally Connected Community Guide and other resources found on the Missouri Broadband Resource Rail designed to help leaders skillfully navigate through government funding to improve broadband access. Tune in with MU Extension to learn more!
Office of Broadband Encourages Participation in FCC Challenge Process
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Missourians have until January 13 to file challenges to newly released maps of broadband coverage to be considered when determining Missouri’s share of federal broadband funding. The Office of Broadband Development encourages Missourians to make sure their homes, businesses, and communities are correctly represented on the maps to ensure locations are eligible for funding and receive their fair share.
The FCC map will determine how much of more than $42 billion in funding will come to the state through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, a component of the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act (IIJA). In 2023, Missouri will use BEAD funding for its Connecting All Missourians initiative, which aims to provide high-quality internet to every home and business statewide. Read more…
Biden-Harris Administration Announces $502 Million for High-Speed Internet in Rural Communities
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Funding Will Provide High-Speed Internet Access to People and Businesses in Rural and Remote Areas across 20 States; Additional Funding Will Come From President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in Coming Months.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2022 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the Department is awarding $502 million in loans and grants (PDF, 221 KB) to provide high-speed internet access for rural residents and businesses in 20 states. The funding is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to investing in rural infrastructure and providing reliable, affordable, high-speed internet for all. USDA is making the investments through the third funding round of the ReConnect Program. The Department will make additional investments for rural high-speed internet in the coming months, including funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides a historic $65 billion investment to expand affordable, high-speed internet to all communities across the U.S.
“President Biden’s commitment to high-speed internet in rural communities is foundational to ensuring that the nation’s economy continues to expand from the bottom up and the middle out,” Vilsack said. “High-speed internet will improve the rural economy. It will help rural businesses grow and get access to new markets. It will help rural residents get access to more and better health care and educational opportunities. USDA knows rural America is America’s backbone, and prosperity here means prosperity for all.”
USDA is making 32 awards in Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. Many of the awards will help rural people and businesses on Tribal lands and people in socially vulnerable communities.
As part of today’s announcement:
- In Michigan, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is receiving a $25 million grant to connect 1,217 people and 26 businesses to high-speed internet in Chippewa and Mackinac counties. The Tribe will make high-speed internet affordable by requiring its service provider to participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides a discount of up to $30 per month – or $75 per month for households on Tribal lands – on household’s internet bills, as well as the FCC’s Lifeline Program. This project will serve Sault Ste. Marie Off-Reservation Trust Land, the Sault Ste. Marie Reservation as well as socially vulnerable communities in Chippewa and Mackinac counties.
- Net Vision Communications LLC is receiving a $12.4 million loan to connect 4,587 people, 300 businesses, nine farms and 15 public schools to high-speed internet in Barton County, Missouri. This project will serve socially vulnerable communities in the county.
- Oklahoma’s Southern Plains Cable LLC is receiving an $8.1 million loan and an $8.1 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network that will connect 7,093 people, 230 businesses, six farms and 29 schools to high-speed internet in Caddo, Comanche, Cotton and Grady counties. Southern Plains will make high-speed internet affordable by participating in the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity and Lifeline programs. This project will serve the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache-Fort Sill Apache tribal statistical area as well as socially vulnerable communities in Cotton County.
USDA has announced $858 million in the third round of ReConnect funding so far and plans to make more investment announcements under this program in the coming weeks. Today’s announcement follows the Department’s July 28 announcement that it has invested $356 million through the ReConnect Program to help very rural residents and businesses in 11 states (PDF, 192 KB) gain access to high-speed internet.
Background: ReConnect Program
To be eligible for ReConnect Program funding, an applicant must serve an area where high-speed internet service speeds are lower than 100 megabits per second (Mbps) (download) and 20 Mbps (upload). The applicant must also commit to building facilities capable of providing high-speed internet service at speeds of 100 Mbps (download and upload) to every location in its proposed service area.
To learn more about investment resources for rural areas, visit www.rd.usda.gov or contact the nearest USDA Rural Development state office.
Background: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
President Biden forged consensus and compromise between Democrats, Republicans and Independents to demonstrate our democracy can deliver big wins for the American people. After decades of talk on rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure, President Biden delivered the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – a historic investment in America that will change people’s lives for the better and get America moving again.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $65 billion to ensure every American has access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet through a historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment. The legislation also lowers costs for internet service and helps close the digital divide, so that more Americans can take full advantage of the opportunities provided by internet access.
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural, tribal and high-poverty areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
Biden-Harris Administration Now Accepting Applications for $1 Billion Rural High-Speed Internet Program
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U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is now accepting applications for ReConnect Program loans and grants to expand access to high-speed internet for millions of people in rural America nationwide. The Department is making more than $1 billion available, thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program is a critical piece of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to connect every American to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet.
“Ensuring that the people of rural America are connected with reliable, high-speed internet brings new and innovative ideas to the rest of our country, and it remains a core priority for President Biden,” Vilsack said. “That’s why high-speed internet is an important part of USDA Rural Development’s work with rural communities. Reliable high-speed internet opens the world’s marketplace to rural business owners. It enables them to expand their businesses and give more jobs and opportunities to people in their own community.”
On Sept. 6, USDA began accepting applications for loans, with available funds of $150 million, grants with available funds of $700 million, and combination loan/grant awards using $300 million under the ReConnect Program. These funds were appropriated under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Governmentwide, the law provides an historic $65 billion investment to expand affordable, high-speed internet to all communities across the U.S.
The application deadline is Nov. 2. For additional information, see page 47690 of the Aug. 4 Federal Register (PDF, 231 KB).
USDA has made several improvements to the ReConnect Program for the current round of applications. Collectively, these improvements increase the availability of funding in rural areas where residents and businesses lack access to affordable, high-speed internet. They include:
- Allowing applicants to serve areas where at least 50% of households lack sufficient access to high-speed internet.
- Adding a funding category for projects where 90% of households lack sufficient access to high-speed internet. For applications submitted under this category, no matching funds will be required.
- Waiving the matching funds requirement for: (a) Alaska Native Corporations, (b) Tribal Governments, (c) projects proposing to provide service in colonias, (d) projects proposing to serve persistent poverty counties and (e) projects proposing to provide service in socially vulnerable communities.
Additionally, to ensure that rural households in need of internet service can afford it, all awardees under this funding round will be required to apply to participate in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The ACP offers a discount of up to $30 per month towards internet service to qualifying low-income households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal Lands. As a result, ACP-eligible households can receive internet at no cost and can sign up and check their eligibility at GetInternet.gov. The Department’s actions to expand high-speed internet access in rural areas are key components of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to help America build back better in its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the first round of the ReConnect Program, USDA invested $656 million to create or improve high-speed internet access for rural customers across 33 states and territories. In the second round of the ReConnect Program, USDA invested $850 million to create or improve high-speed internet access for rural customers across 37 states and territories. To date, USDA has announced $356 million in critical investments through the third round of ReConnect funding, for a total of $1.8 billion invested through the ReConnect Program since the program’s inception. More investments will be announced in the coming weeks.
Background: ReConnect Program
To be eligible for ReConnect Program funding, an applicant must serve an area where high-speed internet service is not available at speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) (download) and 20 Mbps (upload). The applicant must also commit to building facilities capable of providing high-speed internet service at speeds of 100 Mbps (download and upload) to every location in its proposed service area.
To learn more about investment resources for rural areas, visit www.rd.usda.gov or contact the nearest USDA Rural Development state office.
Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural, tribal and high-poverty areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
Remember the FCC RDOF Auction? When is a “Funded Area” Actually “Funded”?
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By Marc McCarty
Today I re-read my Blog from December 2020 about the winners of the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction awards. It was an exciting time! Over $9.2 billion awarded — $346 million to Missouri providers that promised to connect nearly 200,000 Missouri locations to high-speed internet!
Twenty months later, while some Missourians now have the service available, many do not, and for some the connection promised by the funding will never come at all.
Why?
Part of the answer was described in the December 2020 Blog:
“Companies receiving awards are required to submit much more detailed information to the FCC throughout next year before their award is final. That information includes engineering data, deployment plans and financial data, and failure to submit it by the deadlines can result in forfeiture of the award.”
As this map shows, as we approach the second anniversary of the initial FCC award announcement, companies who won awards in the areas of the state shaded in yellow still have not been able to satisfy the FCC’s criteria to begin receiving funding. Those areas shaded in red represent locations where companies have “defaulted” and lost their chance for federal funding. This map does not include the latest disqualifications of “winning companies” — $885 million to Star Link (disqualified because it could not show it could deliver service to all locations at the promised speeds) and $1.3 billion to LTD Broadband (disqualified because it failed to obtain necessary state issued licenses to offer internet service). LTD Broadband’s disqualification is particularly relevant for Missouri because it represents the majority of Missouri locations that had not been funded.
Of course, even in areas where the final applications for funding have been approved by the FCC, another reason many folks are waiting for broadband service is that the funding is spread over 10 years and the providers have 6 years to meet their obligation.
On August 15, the Department of Economic Development began taking applications for up to $265 million of state grant funding for broadband infrastructure, and Missouri likely will receive hundreds of millions of dollars more funding over the next few years through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act programs.
Government officials are very concerned that this new funding does not go to areas already covered by another federal grant funding award. For example, under the DED program:
“project areas where high-cost support from the federal Universal Service Fund has been received by rate of return carriers, funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Broadband Infrastructure Program, or where any other federal funding has been awarded to provide broadband service at speeds of 100/20Mbps will not receive Program funding.”
This of course, seems very logical. Why should the federal or state government pay twice for the same promised broadband access?
However, this logic breaks down when the promised federal funding is delayed for months or even years and then ultimately denied, or where the funded project cannot deliver the promised levels of broadband access.
This is a problem that is unlikely to go away. The FCC, NTIA and USDA (Reconnect) all have had funding programs in place over the past several years, with slightly different criteria for eligibility, requirements for connectivity levels, and build-out timelines. In some cases, the funding program did not require, and the provider did not commit to build out the locations to the current 100/100 Mbps or 100/20 Mbps standard.
Some of these issues can be addressed through a focused grant application and challenge process of the type DED has implemented. After all, providers that do expect to move forward with federal funding should be able to make that intent known. Further, in situations where “preliminary” awards were granted only to ultimately be rejected during an extended evaluation process – such as Star Link and LTD Broadband — the DED Broadband office has already taken steps to encourage applicants to make the case for funding through a new addition to its broadband program grant FAQ:
Questions added August 22, 2022:
Q31:The Federal Communications Commission today announced that it is rejecting the long-form applications of LTD Broadband and Starlink to receive support through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program, what does that mean for my broadband application?
A31:Due to the FCC rejecting the long-form applications of LTD Broadband and Starlink, areas within Missouri that may have been considered federally funded/awarded may no longer be considered federally funded. In the application, for Section IV Questions 13 & 13a, if your proposed service area was a previously funded area, but it is no longer, provide an explanation of how the area was previously awarded, and why that proposed service area is eligible for this Program’s funding.
Certainly, it also would be helpful if all federal agencies had more consistency in their requirements and process for funding programs and more transparency to identify when an “awarded” area: (1) actually is reasonably likely to qualify for funding and (2) is building infrastructure capable of meeting modern standards for broadband service (100/100 Mbps or 100/20 Mbps).
Finally, it might be appropriate to consider more objective criteria for determining if an area that is unserved or underserved actually should be excluded because of a competitor’s challenge. For example, Ohio’s state grant program definitions exclude unserved and underserved communities from participation in its grant program only when a competitor’s network is actually under construction and expected to be deployed within 24 months. Likely there are other ways of addressing this issue, but for the sake of residents and businesses currently on the other side of the digital divide, solutions need to be found. For Missourians without access, it is little comfort to learn that they live in an area that cannot participate in new rounds of federal and state funding for broadband, because funding was promised but never provided in a prior award or was used to construct infrastructure that doesn’t meet current standards. In either case, these folks are unconnected, with no realistic prospect of becoming connected, unless their homes and businesses are eligible to participate in future federal and state grant programs.
All 50 States, U.S. Territories, and the District of Columbia Join Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All Initiative
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Internet For All Initiative
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| JUST ANNOUNCED: Biden-Harris Administration Launches $45 Billion “Internet for All” Initiative to Bring Affordable, Reliable High-Speed Internet to Everyone in America Today, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo will visit Durham, N.C., to announce the launch of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative, which will invest $45 billion to provide affordable, reliable, high-speed internet for everyone in America by the end of the decade. The initiative will be administered and implemented by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The Internet for All initiative will build internet infrastructure, teach digital skills, and provide necessary technology to ensure that everyone in America – including communities of color, rural communities, and older Americans – has the access and skills they need to fully participate in today’s society. The Internet for All programs launched today with three Notices of Funding Opportunity: Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program ($42.5 billion) Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program ($1 billion) State Digital Equity Act program ($1.5 billion) |
| Want to learn more about these historic programs? The Internet for All Webinar series connects key stakeholders to the critical information they need to help ensure the programs’ success. |
The programs are funded through President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will be administered and implemented by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). For more information, please visit InternetForAll.gov. |
Conquering the St. Louis Digital Divide:
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New Report Outlines Steps Necessary to Bridge the Gap
To bridge the digital divide in St. Louis City and County, the region must address service and device affordability, coverage and quality gaps within its technical infrastructure, and provide digital training and support for many, according to a new report on the subject issued today. It was commissioned by the St. Louis Community Foundation and the Regional Business Council (RBC) and prepared by the Center for Civic Research and Innovation (CCRI) and accounting firm EY (Ernst & Young). Read more here.