On May 17, 2023, The US Department of the Treasury released supplementary broadband guidance for its State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) and Capital Projects Fund (CPF). As provided for in each SLFRF and CPF award agreement, the Uniform Guidance applies to all uses of funds made available under those awards unless provided otherwise by Treasury. In response to questions from recipients and internet service providers, Treasury issued this guidance regarding the application of the Uniform Guidance to broadband infrastructure projects. This guidance applies to broadband infrastructure contracts and subawards funded by SLFRF and CPF for states, territories, freely associated states, and local governments, including those entered into prior to the release of this guidance. The full supplementary broadband guidance can be found here.

Broadband officials have been hitting the road in 2023, conducting listening sessions across their states and territories. With several holding at least one meeting in every single county, they are cataloging how their residents access the internet and where there are barriers to deploying infrastructure and digital services. These briefings, town halls, and surveys are part of a multistep process that states and territories have started to implement two programs from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA): the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act (DEA) programs. Lawmakers enacted BEAD to ensure that high-speed internet infrastructure is available to every household and business, and DEA to help ensure that all people and communities have the skills, technology, and capacity to make full use of the digital economy. With historic amounts of money, these programs are enabling states and territories to build the operational capacity required to effectively administer the funds and methodically plan strategies for bridging the digital divide.

Sens Peter Welch (D-VT) and Roger Marshall (R-KS)  introduced the bipartisan ReConnecting Rural America Act, legislation to reauthorize and reinforce the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ReConnect Loan and Grant Program. ReConnect plays a central role in expanding access to high-speed broadband in rural communities, where broadband access is severely limited compared to what is available in urban and suburban areas. The ReConnecting Rural America Act will codify and clarify components of the ReConnect Program and, in so doing, reduce red tape, and speed broadband deployment. The bill will:  

• Establish 100/100 Mbps symmetrical buildout speeds for ReConnect;

• Clarify that USDA can make grants, loans, or grant-loan combinations under ReConnect;

• Set unserved definitions to ensure ReConnect reaches those who need broadband the most, and not building broadband where it is not needed; 

• Clarify that Communications Union Districts are eligible entities under ReConnect;  

• Improve coordination and communication among stakeholders at the federal level. 

Frontier Communications said it expects its cost per passing to fall in the $1,000 to $1,100 range in 2023. Though that number is higher than expected, CFO Scott Beasley argued cost per passing is “not the most important value driver” of building fiber, pointing instead to average revenue per unit (ARPU) and penetration. Beasley explained how some of Frontier’s deployment locations have higher build costs due to terrain, but noted penetration rates are “better than expected." As for ARPU, Frontier earlier in 2023, began charging for “value-added services,” such as whole-home Wi-Fi and the eero Secure VPN – services that were previously included in broadband plans. The operator also decided to cut back on its use of gift card promotions. In terms of installation costs, Frontier’s long-term goal is to reach a cost-to-connect of roughly $600 per customer, though Beasley noted the company is “above that now” for a few reasons. “We’re still becoming more efficient in our installation capacity,” he said, pointing out how Frontier’s technician workforce is being retrained from repairing copper to installing fiber. So, the operator is “still getting up the learning curve, particularly in new geographies.” “We're far behind a lot of peers in terms of our ability, both in our network and in our IT systems, to be able to do self-install, but we're getting up the curve there,” he added. “As we get closer to the peer benchmarks of self-install, we should come back down to that $600 per passing range.”