Grace Tepper

Tech companies are also planning to use new broadband infrastructure to power data centers with enormous processing capabilities for a variety of applications, including artificial intelligence. However, the data center buildout comes with economic and environmental risks for many communities, especially those in the southern parts of the U.S.

More states and territories are releasing their final Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program final proposals for public comment before seeking  National Telecommunications and Information Administration approval. These states received extensions past the NTIA’s early September deadline to submit final plans. 

• The Idaho Office of Broadband released its Draft Final Proposal for public comment on September 16. In its proposal, Idaho plans to spend almost $136 million of its $583 million in BEAD funding towards broadband deployment.

Much has been said about the national broadband deployment process being undertaken with the support of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program. On September 18, the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing to discuss 29 (yes, 29!) bills aimed at streamlining the broadband permitting process to expedite deployment. At the hearing, the subcommittee sought to understand how permitting processes create deployment challenges for internet service providers.

More and more states are releasing their draft final proposals for how to spend their Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program funds. Following the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's June 6 announcement that restructured the BEAD Program, all 50 states and U.S. territories are reevaluating their BEAD plans and publicly releasing them for another look.

This week, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society released "Achieving Affordability: State Strategies for Getting Everyone Online," an examination of how states are working to make high-speed internet more affordable for their residents. With the release, Benton Research Director Dr. Caroline Stratton hosted a discussion on how broadband affordability, availability, and adoption relate to each other and present current and future opportunities to improve universal access.

More than 36 Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program draft final proposals have been released by states and territories. In these plans, each state is deciding how to connect its un- and underserved locations before submitting its final proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for approval. Through these draft final proposals, we are seeing how states have adjusted their broadband deployment activities as a result of the BEAD Program restructuring and the Benefit of the Bargain application round.

Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program draft final proposals continue to pour in as each state prepares to submit its final plans to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Each state is deciding how to connect its un- and underserved locations in what is called the Benefit of the Bargain application round. Today's edition of this series covers ten more states' draft final proposals.

Following a June 6 announcement from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that restructured the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, all states and territories have been tasked with reevaluating their plans to connect un- and underserved locations to high-speed internet.

On August 5, the Federal Communications Commission voted to kick off its annual review of the pace and cadence of broadband deployment.

Today, like all weekdays, the Headlines Daily Digest brings the latest broadband and digital equity news to thousands of policymakers, practitioners, researchers, funders, and curious minds. Today, we at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society celebrate our Executive Editor, Kevin Taglang, who has been curating and creating Benton’s news and analysis for 30 years. Our readers know Kevin as a familiar presence in their inbox, but what they may not know about our low-key colleague is his deep and abiding commitment to communications policy in the public interest.