Federal funding for broadband expansion is spread out over a number of different initiatives, which may make it difficult to decide on a funding strategy. Here are CTC Technology and Energy's points to consider when weighing your options for federal broadband funding:
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Notice of Funding (NOFO) for their new Broadband Infrastructure Progam provides a complicated definition for eligible service areas. Here is our analysis of the NOFO protocols on data usage and mapping for program proposals:
The Consortium for School Networking's 2021 report includes IT leadership and infrastructure findings to give school districts and policymakers a holistic understanding of the K-12 technological landscape. This year’s 10 top findings are:
Efforts to expand broadband access outside of school have increased dramatically. In 2020, 51 percent of district tech leaders provided off-campus internet services, but in 2021, that nearly doubled to 95 percent.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Agriculture are spending $8 million to build a rural broadband testing site in Ames, Iowa, that both industry engineers and researchers from Iowa State University plan to use for developing wireless technologies and piloting rural connectivity strategies.
President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan prioritizes “building ‘future proof’ broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas so that we finally reach 100 percent high-speed broadband coverage.” Many considered this an imperative to spend the funds on fiber-to-the-home connections. Yet is fiber—and more precisely, fiber-optic "last mile" connections into residences—really future proof? As the amount of devices and data generated have multiplied, fixed connections to them have diminished.
Ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced the Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary for GPS and Satellite Communications (RETAIN GPS) Act (S.2166). The April 2020 Ligado Order from the Federal Communications Commission recognized the likelihood of interference to GPS signals and requires Ligado Networks to pay the federal government the costs for repairs.
This report on the connection between access to broadband and labor force participation across all US metro areas finds that:
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