- NTIA Releases Broadband Report
- Which States Had BEAD Proposals Approved?
- State Broadband Offices Invited to Association
- NDIA Offers Digital Equity Webinars
- San Francisco Grants to Support Digital Equity
NTIA RELEASES BROADBAND REPORT
This week, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a report and dashboard to analyze federal investments in broadband for fiscal year 2022.
The report, the 2023 Federal Broadband Funding Report, was developed in accordance with the ACCESS BROADBAND Act and highlights trends in federal investments.
The dashboard includes spending data from 12 agencies across 70 federal Internet programs; it also reports tribal broadband funding. In addition, the dashboard includes state-level data and separates funding by that which Congress has budgeted, awarded and spent. It displays data about investments for three fiscal years beginning in FY 2020.
The data available in these two releases reveals federal agencies reported $64.3 billion for FY 2022 in high-speed Internet appropriations. Also notably, federal broadband spending grew by 120 percent from FY 2021 to FY 2022.
To provide greater context and usability for the dashboard, downloadable data, data notes, and a user guide are also available.
The report was created by NTIA’s Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth, which collected data from agencies related to broadband infrastructure deployment, digital inclusion initiatives, broadband data, mapping and planning work.
This is not the first dashboard created as a result of the ACCESS BROADBAND Act. In March 2023, the ACCESS BROADBAND Dashboard was released to show the local impact of broadband investments. In May 2023, NTIA released a dashboard alongside the 2022 Federal Broadband Funding Report to display federal broadband investments.
In other NTIA news, the agency announced 227 applications have been submitted for the $1.5 billion Wireless Innovation Fund, requesting more than $2.94 billion in funding. This is the second round of funding. Awards are expected to be made this year. More than $140 million has already been awarded through the program.
WHICH STATES HAD BEAD PROPOSALS APPROVED?
Several new states have now received approvals on their initial proposals for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program funding. As of Thursday morning, Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin have received approvals.
The states will receive funding up to the amount they were allocated. Allocations were $993 million for Arizona, $1.7 billion for Missouri, $628 million for Montana, $797 million for Oklahoma, $813 million for Tennessee, $228 million for Vermont and $1 billion for Wisconsin. With these initial proposals approved, BEAD-eligible entities can now access funding.
STATE BROADBAND OFFICES INVITED TO ASSOCIATION
The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), a national trade association representing service providers, manufacturers, deployment specialists and other fiber broadband industry experts, is now welcoming state broadband offices (SBOs) to participate in its new membership program.
SBOs play a major role in federal broadband investment distribution. Through this new program, FBA will provide state office staff with access to FBA membership benefits, including networking opportunities with industry experts, access to FBA research and events, and access to a fiber-optic technician training program.
“I so appreciate FBA acknowledging the difficult work of state broadband offices and taking this step to provide additional support and resources as we all work toward universal access to connectivity,” Sally Doty, director of the Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi, said in a news release.
NDIA OFFERS DIGITAL EQUITY WEBINARS
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing digital equity, held a webinar this week about the Universal Service Fund (USF) as part of its summer policy webinar series. During this webinar, experts discussed USF’s modernization potential as well as its potential impact on the Affordable Connectivity Program. Alisa Valentin, broadband policy director at Public Knowledge, and Andy Schwartzman, Benton senior counselor at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, were the panelists.
This follows another August webinar from NDIA’s summer series that addressed the Digital Equity Act Competitive Grant program.
Next up in the series is a webinar scheduled for Aug. 14 on digital discrimination, which will be followed by an Aug. 22 webinar on broadband consumer labels.
SAN FRANCISCO GRANTS TO SUPPORT DIGITAL EQUITY
Digital equity work is advancing at the local level, too. Last week, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, with the San Francisco Department of Technology, announced the recipients of the SF Bridge Digital Equity Programs Grant, part of the SF Bridge Digital Equity Programs. The program aims to close the digital divide in the city by funding initiatives that expand digital equity through Internet access, digital skills training, and other technology resources.
Six organizations and initiatives were awarded funding, including the Mission Economic Development Agency’s Mission Digital initiative. It received $100,000 to provide digital skills training at affordable housing sites serving low- to moderate-income Latinos. The PRC’s Digital Literacy Navigation and Training for Individuals with Disabilities received $97,680 to offer computer training at affordable housing sites targeting low-income individuals affected by HIV or AIDS, mental illness and substance use disorders. More information about the program and grant awards can be found on the city’s website.
