Universal Broadband

When we released the proposed Build America, Buy America (BABA) waiver in August 2023, we estimated that our approach would mean close to 90% of BEAD funds spent on equipment would be spent on equipment manufactured in the U.S.

North Carolina is moving forward with a digital equity grant program to bring broadband access into more underserved homes, as part of a larger mission to have all of these homes connected to the Internet by 2029. The North Carolina Department of Information Technology’s (NCDIT) Office of Digital Equity and Literacy will award $14 million in grants to community organizations such as local nonprofits, libraries, educational institutions and others.

A broadband coalition called the Accurate Broadband Data Alliance (ABDA) is warning the Federal Communications Commission that its national broadband map contains errors that "will hinder and, in many cases, prevent deployment of essential broadband services by redirecting funds away from areas truly lacking sufficient broadband." In a filing, ABDA alleges that "significant errors" exist throughout the broadband map, due in part to incorrect reporting by some internet service providers. "A number of carriers, including LTD Broadband/GigFire LLC and others, continue to overreport Internet se

Rep Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called for urgent congressional action to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program. The program provides eligible households with a discount on their monthly internet bills. Currently, 338,000 New Jersey families are benefiting from the program, including nearly 24,000 households in Rep Pallone’s Congressional district.

The vision of the Digital Equity Plan for Hawaiʻi will be the overarching guide that will steer the direction of all strategies, objectives, and actions in this plan. As remote work, online learning, telehealth services, and virtual interactions became essential, individuals and communities faced immense obstacles getting digitally connected. These challenges will continue without high quality Internet access, adequate tools, and the necessary digital literacy skills.

The COVID-19 pandemic made digital access an educational necessity and highlighted California’s longstanding digital divide—defined as disparities in reliable access to internet and digital devices. In spring 2020, when schools shifted abruptly to distance learning, only 68% of households with school-age children had reliable access to digital devices.

If you follow broadband news, you’d be forgiven for thinking we’re about to end the digital divide. That sentiment has dominated recent conversations we’ve had with foundation leaders who, having initially joined the chorus of voices calling for digital equity at the height of Covid-19, are now drifting to the sidelines, under the impression that the government’s broadband spending push will solve the problem. It won’t. Despite its ambition, the latest round of public investment will not reach all 42 million Americans still living without internet access.

The Illinois Office of Broadband formally launched its Challenge Process on February 20, 2024, starting the 120-day clock to get the broadband map right. The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Challenge Process gives Illinois non-profits, local governments, residents, and internet service providers the opportunity to weigh in on the broadband availability map to ensure funding is going where it is needed most.

Illinois Broadband Director Matt Schmit is no newbie, nor is the state’s broadband office. In 2019, Illinois’ $45 billion capital investment plan included $400 million to fund a new broadband program that would be dubbed “Connect Illinois.” That summer, Schmit was recruited from Minnesota to stand up the office that would oversee the grant program and Illinois’ broadband efforts.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration made a monstrous mess of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program maps when they decided to allow licensed fixed wireless to be counted as reliable broadband. This has a huge ramification for the BEAD grants. It has made maps into hodgepodges of served and unserved homes.