Oklahoma

One float stood out among the tinsel and holiday cheer at the annual Christmas parade in Sand Springs (OK): an unsightly data center with blinding industrial lights and smoke pouring out of its roof, towering menacingly over a helpless gingerbread house. Sand Springs, bordering Tulsa, is a battleground, one of many across the country, where companies seeking to build massive data centers to win the artificial intelligence (AI) race with China are coming up against the reality of local politics.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration at the Department of Commerce announced it is recommending nine applications for award, totaling approximately $6.5 million, under the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.

Two projects totaling $5.4 million for high-speed internet expansion in northeastern Oklahoma were officially launched in Craig County (OK) by the Oklahoma Broadband Office and internet service provider The Junction Internet. The projects, funded through $2.7 million in federal grants administered by the OBO coupled with $2.7 million in matching contributions from Junction, will connect 337 homes and businesses with broadband internet using fixed wireless technology.

The Oklahoma Broadband Office has opened funding for the Capital Projects Fund 2.0, which will aim to serve 766 locations that remain unserved. The window will run through November 17, when the application portal will close. The Oklahoma funding notice says eligible applicants are cooperatives, electric utilities, and other entities that build or operate broadband networks, partnerships and consortium.

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.

Oklahoma plans to return $225 million in federal broadband funds after shifting to lower-cost wireless solutions under a new federal directive, a move officials say will cut costs while critics warn it will leave many rural residents with inferior service and send Oklahoma tax dollars to other states. The Oklahoma Broadband Office says it can expand internet service using cheaper wireless options and doesn’t need all of the money. But some worry Oklahoma tax dollars will now benefit other states, while leaving many rural residents with subpar internet options.

The Oklahoma Broadband Office released the Oklahoma Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Grant Program Final Proposal on August 25 for public comment due by September 1, 2025, at 11:59 pm. The final proposal includes $550 million in funding to 20 internet service providers to cover 34,000 locations in the state. 65 percent of locations will be served by fiber, while 20 percent will be served by fixed wireless, and 15 will be served by low-Earth orbit satellite. 

Oklahoma’s broadband director is, like many of his counterparts, looking for flexibility from the Trump administration as his office administers its slice of a $42.45 billion federal broadband expansion program. Mike Sanders, executive director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office since 2023, said the office has been setting up meetings with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and federal lawmakers from his state to make his case. “Flexibility is what we’re wanting the outgrowth of those meetings” to be, he said.

More than $53 million in middle-mile broadband expansion grants were recommended for approval by the Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board. The Oklahoma middle-mile projects, recommended for approval by the Grants Review Committee, are funded by the American Rescue Plan Act’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. Several additional projects were recommended for approval “should funding become available.”