$65 Billion in Federal Aid for Broadband
On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law. This bill authorizes the historic allocation of $65 billion for broadband, which is a massive win for Digital Inclusion Advocates across the country!
“The bipartisan infrastructure deal will deliver $65 billion to help ensure that every American has access to reliable high-speed Internet through a historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment,” the White House said Friday. “The legislation will also help lower prices for Internet service and help close the digital divide, so that more Americans can afford Internet access.” – ArsTechnica
However, there are still some important “unknowns” that need to be understood before this money makes its way from the Federal government, to the States, and ultimately to the groups who will be doing the work to make Pennsylvania a more Digitally Inclusive place to live.
Meta Mesh Wireless Communities has been working with our state legislators to make sure that they are aware of alternative or nontraditional service providers already working in Pennsylvania. As both a nonprofit Wireless Internet Service Provider and a partner to a number of Digital Inclusion Institutions, we’re focused on closing the digital divide by addressing both access and affordability issues. From what we understand so far, applications for funding that represent a diverse collaborative between multiple providers and entities will have an advantage.
Timeline
We’re also keeping an eye on the timelines that we expect these new fund allocations to follow, based on what we saw with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) grants from earlier in the year.
1st: Infrastructure Bill signed into law on 11/15/21
2nd: Treasury will likely have 60 days to send money to the states – it arrives in Harrisburg by the end of December 2021.
3rd: Harrisburg will likely have 120 days to get the money to grantees. Grantees (Counties, Cities, School Systems, etc.) will need to complete grant applications that include: strategy/goals, an identified population to serve, what organizations they will contract with to get the Internet Service Provider connections in place, and how much it will cost – by end of April 2022.
4th: Grantees receive notice that they have been awarded the money and have a deadline to get the work underway – contracts and initial payments will need to be signed and delivered within a couple of months – June 2022.
If your institution is interested in applying for funding from the Infrastructure Bill, here are a few things you can do to add your voice to the planning process.
Help legislators in Harrisburg plan and prepare to disseminate the Infrastructure Bill money. This would include topics like: how the grant application process should work, what types of organizations can apply, and appropriate goals for the grants (for example: accessibility, affordability or both to close the digital divide).
Give a heads up to other potential grantees (perhaps your potential partners?) so that they understand the basics of how this is likely to play out, what steps they will need to take to be prepared to apply for funding, and where they can go for more details/information as it becomes available over the next few months.
We will be sharing updates on the Infrastructure Bill and how to apply as that information becomes available, so stay tuned! For more information on what’s in the bill, keep reading:
Where is the $65 Billion Going?
$42.45 billion for a Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program
The $42.45 billion in broadband deployment money would be administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The NTIA would distribute the funding to states, which in turn would distribute grants to ISPs to build in unserved areas.
The bill defines unserved locations as those without access to speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream, and without access to “latency sufficient to support real-time, interactive applications.”
Funded projects would have to provide speeds of at least 100Mbps downstream and 20Mbps upstream with good latency.
Unserved locations will be determined using more accurate geospatial broadband maps that the FCC is in the process of developing.
ISPs that get funding will be required to offer at least one low-cost broadband service option to eligible subscribers, with the NTIA and states being given authority to define what counts as low-cost. “Eligible subscribers” would be defined by the NTIA.
ISPs would be given four years to complete broadband deployments, though states can grant extensions for “extenuating circumstances.”
$14.2 billion goes to an Affordable Connectivity Fund that is essentially a longer-term version of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, with subsidies of $30 a month instead of the original $50.
$2.75 billion for digital equity grants to cover training, broadband equipment, and “public access computing centers for covered populations through community anchor institutions.”
Covered populations include low-income households, racial and ethnic minorities, rural residents, veterans, people with disabilities, people with language barriers, and people who are 60 or older.
$2 billion for broadband grants and loans distributed by the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service
$2 billion for Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program grants
$1 billion for middle-mile network grants
$600 million in Private Activity Bonds for broadband projects