- Mapping Legislation Introduced
- New Mexico Awards $40 Million in Grants
- County Provides Digital Devices, Assistive Technology
- New Resource Addresses Permitting Challenges
- USF Disruption Could Reduce Rural Broadband Access
MAPPING LEGISLATION INTRODUCED
Federal lawmakers this week introduced bipartisan legislation to improve the broadband funding mapping process and interagency coordination. The PROTOCOL Act aims to improve coordination across the more than 130 federal broadband programs distributing billions of dollars. The legislation was introduced by Reps. August Pfluger and Debbie Dingell.
A Competitive Carriers Association white paper estimated significant amounts of waste in federal broadband funding — between $115 million and $1 billion — due to misleading map data.
“With over 130 broadband programs being funded across 15 agencies in the federal government, the PROTOCOL Act is necessary to ensure that broadband infrastructure awards are reaching communities who desperately need access,” Pfluger said in a statement.
The new legislation, if passed, would do several things.
First, it would align the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s Broadband Deployment Locations Map with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)’s Broadband Infrastructure Funding Database.
Second, it would request non-mandatory reports on state-based programs, and the data from those reports would be included in the NTIA database and FCC map.
Finally, it would require that other federal agencies use the new FCC map when awarding funding for broadband infrastructure.
The FCC released its broadband map in 2022, the reactions to which were mixed, but the challenge process continues to improve the accuracy of the map’s data. Achieving digital equity will depend on better broadband location data.
NEW MEXICO AWARDS $40 MILLION IN GRANTS
In state news, the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion has awarded more than $40 million in state grants to deploy broadband across the state. The funding was awarded to Internet service providers, telephone cooperatives, pueblos and a tribal company.
The recipients are Comcast Corp., Resound Networks, Valley Telephone Cooperative, Penasco Valley Telephone Cooperative, Picuris Pueblo, San Ildefonso Services LLC, and Isleta Pueblo.
The grants are released through the state’s Connect New Mexico Fund as part of a $70 million, state-led program established in 2020 by the Legislature through the Connect New Mexico Act. More state grants are slated to be awarded soon.
COUNTY PROVIDES DIGITAL DEVICES, ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
At the local level, libraries in Wake County, N.C., will be able to provide access to Chromebooks and Internet hot spots through $398,700 in grant funding from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology’s Division of Broadband and Digital Equity. The funds were awarded through the Digital Equity Champion grant program.
The funding will support two initiatives: mobile access kits and assistive technology enhancements.
The goal of the first is to help low-income households, and rural and aging residents, access tools for digital connectivity. The latter aims to upgrade software and hardware at public library computers to increase access for people with disabilities.
NEW RESOURCE ADDRESSES PERMITTING CHALLENGES
In other digital equity news, a new paper, Permitting Success: Closing the Digital Divide Through Local Broadband Permitting, offers local governments and Internet service providers information to help them address network construction barriers.
The paper was released by the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, in partnership with the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law and Policy, the American Association for Public Broadband, Fiber Broadband Association, Brightspeed and GFiber.
It includes case studies, checklists for providers and government entities, and outlines three categories for permitting success: partnerships between permit seekers and permitting authority, maximizing available resources, and ensuring transparency and consistency throughout the process.
USF DISRUPTION COULD REDUCE RURAL BROADBAND ACCESS
A survey released this week by NTCA — The Rural Broadband Association finds that potential disruption of the Universal Service Fund (USF) would impact rural consumers and broadband investments in rural communities.
The USF was created to support telephone service for low-income households; as technology evolved, the definition of universal service was expanded to help all Americans obtain access to communications services, including Internet. Some digital equity organizations, like the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, have underlined the potential of the USF to be modernized and used to fund affordable Internet service, in the wake of the Affordable Connectivity Program.
The NTCA survey was conducted in August. It found that if the program were eliminated, rural broadband rates would possibly increase significantly. It also found that broadband network investments could drop if USF support were eliminated. As NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said in a statement, the USF is “a critical tool” to providing broadband access in rural communities.
