On November 15, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal into law–historic legislation to rebuild crumbling infrastructure, create good-paying jobs, and grow the economy. To coordinate the law's effective implementation, President Biden signed an Executive Order outlining the Administration's implementation priorities and establishing an Infrastructure Implementation Task Force. The Executive Order lays out six main priorities to guide implementation across the Federal government. The Order also establishes a Task Force co-chaired by National Economic Council Director, Brian Deese, and the White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator, Mitch Landrieu. This Task Force will be committed to breaking down barriers and driving the implementation of infrastructure investments across all levels of government to realize the President’s vision of rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure and positioning the US to compete and win in the 21st century. The six main priorities to guide implementation across the Federal government:

1. Invest public dollars efficiently, avoid waste, and focus on measurable outcomes for the American people
2. Buy American and increase the competitiveness of the U.S. economy, including through implementing the Act’s Made-in-America requirements and bolstering domestic manufacturing and manufacturing supply chains; 
3. Create good-paying job opportunities for millions of Americans by focusing on high labor standards for these jobs, including prevailing wages and the free and fair chance to join a union;
4. Invest public dollars equitably, including through the Justice40 Initiative, which is a Government-wide effort toward a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits from Federal investments in climate and clean energy flow to disadvantaged communities;
5. Build resilient infrastructure that can withstand the impacts of climate change and that helps combat the climate crisis; and
6. Effectively coordinate with State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments in implementing these critical investments.

President Biden signed Congress's $1.2 trillion infrastructure package into law, including a whopping $65 billion to expand broadband access. Now, it's up to federal agencies, states and civil society groups to implement it. The bill prioritized broadband projects that target unserved communities — as laid out in the bill, that means communities that either have no broadband access or lack sufficient speeds. But determining where those unserved communities are depends on the existence of accurate broadband maps, something the federal government has struggled for years to produce. Once maps are complete and federal rules are in place, states will need to build up their own internal infrastructures as well. That includes the ability to not only develop plans for their grant programs, but to distribute those grants and enforce that the proposals they're funding are actually implemented. Another wrinkle to be ironed out is that the bill prohibits states from excluding municipalities from receiving grants through the program, despite more than a dozen states across the country having laws on the books that ban municipal networks. The bill also contains provisions that would make service more affordable and accessible where networks do exist — money that could be deployed sooner. That includes the Affordable Connectivity Benefit, building on the Emergency Broadband Benefit, and funds for digital literacy programs and anti-digital redlining initiatives.

Frontier Communications is gearing up to capitalize on broadband funding opportunities created by the passage of the US infrastructure bill and points to the federal dollars as a key part of its fiber expansion plan. Though it is expected to take several months before the states receive the funding, Frontier CFO Scott Beasley said the company is already “organizing to really benefit from it.” Frontier is aiming to reach a total of 4 million locations by the end of 2021 and grow its footprint to 10 million by the end of 2025. Beasley didn’t provide an exact figure for how many locations it might be able to reach with the help of government funding but stated “we know it’s a significant number…we know there’s a huge part of our footprint that doesn’t have access to broadband now and that this program will be critical in helping bridge that digital divide.” Frontier is also looking to boost enrollment in the government’s broadband subsidy program. The CFO said Frontier currently has around 14,000 customers participating in the Federal Communications Commission's Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, adding “We are investing to make it easier for customers to get access to that affordability fund now that it’s permanent.”

North Carolina could be on the receiving end of more than a billion dollars to expand broadband internet access between the bipartisan infrastructure plan and the upcoming state budget. And that could lead to some of the largest-ever investments in broadband in a state with a rural population larger than any other, except for Texas. It still remains to be seen exactly how much North Carolina will get from the federal infrastructure bill, as the money is being distributed in a formulaic approach among 50 states and territories. The bill includes $42.5 billion for broadband infrastructure, of which each state will get at least $100 million at first. The rest of the $42.5 billion will be doled out via a formula-based grant program. Nate Denny, the deputy secretary of broadband and digital equity at the NC Department of Information Technology, estimates North Carolina’s share could come roughly in the $800 million range for infrastructure alone. That’s money that could be used to build out more fiber internet across the state, but could also include money for some other forms of fast internet, like fixed wireless or satellite internet. Gov Roy Cooper (D-NC)’s budget proposal would add $1.2 billion to the state’s efforts at making broadband more accessible, though it’s unknown what the final amount will be in the budget lawmakers are expected to put out in the coming week or whether Cooper will approve that plan. The NC Senate’s budget put infrastructure investments at around $330 million.

The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) says more money needs to be allocated to ensure 5G makes its way into rural areas that likely wouldn’t get the new technology without support. Specifically, it has eyes on $11 billion more for the Federal Communications Commission’s 5G Fund. CCA released a new analysis that pegs the total initial cost of investment – from both private and federal funds – at $36 billion to reach ubiquitous nationwide 5G coverage in areas where carriers are unlikely to deploy without support. In October 2020, the FCC voted for $9 billion in Universal Service Fund dollars to establish a newly created 5G Fund to support 5G deployments in rural areas. However, CCA noted that the budget wasn’t based on data and was decided before updated mobile broadband coverage maps were created. The new analysis is based on real-world data, costs and 4G LTE coverage data submitted by the four largest carriers to the FCC in August 2021. CCA wants to avoid a 5G gap that mirrors the current digital divide from earlier technology generations, where there’s no incentive for carriers to deploy service in high-cost, low-density areas. The company is urging policy-makers to immediately “right-size” the 5G Fund upward to $20 billion.

T-Mobile announced it now covers 200 million people with Ultra Capacity 5G, the moniker for its 2.5 GHz coverage, which is six weeks ahead of schedule. It’s also farther ahead of its rivals than what was envisioned even a couple weeks ago. That’s because AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay their comparable mid-band coverage by a month while they work out concerns raised by the aviation community about C-band spectrum, which was auctioned by the FCC earlier in 2021. T-Mobile also bought C-band spectrum, but it isn’t nearly as reliant upon it for 5G mid-band as its rivals. Once a laggard in wireless coverage, T-Mobile is making its rivalry all about 5G, for which it claimed nationwide coverage with 600 MHz spectrum back in 2019. The bulk of T-Mobile’s mid-band spectrum is a result of its merger with Sprint, which brought an average of more than 150 megahertz of 2.5 GHz spectrum/market to the union. The Ultra Capacity brand also includes millimeter wave (mmWave), which is just a fraction of what T-Mobile’s 2.5 GHz spectrum covers. The company plans to cover a population of 300 million with Ultra Capacity 5G by the end of 2023.

ViaSat sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging the Commission not to approve any Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) funding for ViaSat’s satellite broadband competitor SpaceX. SpaceX is in the process of deploying thousands of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide broadband service with lower latency in comparison with the geostationary satellite broadband service that ViaSat offers. SpaceX was one of the biggest winners in the RDOF auction and was tentatively awarded $885 million to cover some of the costs of providing broadband to unserved rural areas. Citing a previous ViaSat FCC filing, the new ViaSat letter argues that SpaceX does not have sufficient capacity to meet its RDOF requirements, even if its total capacity is used for RDOF. ViaSat isn’t the only entity questioning SpaceX’s RDOF win. A report commissioned by NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association and Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) also questions whether SpaceX has enough capacity to meet its RDOF service requirements. FBA also questions whether the RDOF program should be funding technology with a lifespan of only five years.