“You can't get there from here.”That’s what residents of Maine (particularly those in Northern Maine) say in a heavy accent when asked for driving directions.Well&nbsp;<a href="mailto:abutcher@maineconnectivity.org">Andrew Butcher</a>’s goal, as president of the <a href="https://www.maineconnectivity.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maine Connectivity Authority</a>, is to actually get sufficient bits “there, from here,” for all of the state’s residents.&nbsp;In fact, it’s been his prime goal for the past three years as director of the <a href="https://www.mainebroadbandcoalition.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maine Broadband Coalition</a>, where in 2020 he co-lead a successful campaign to persuade voters to borrow $15 million to fund broadband expansion. He and the coalition then went on to develop the legislation that ultimately created the MCA, which Governor Janet Mills and the state legislature signed off on through the<a href="http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0477&amp;item=4&amp;snum=130">&nbsp;Connectivity Infrastructure Act</a>&nbsp;in June 2021.&nbsp;The state established the terms of statewide broadband deployment funded by the $129 million from two rounds of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund. (The state has also received $21 million from the Maine Jobs and Recovery Program, and it expects to receive&nbsp;<a href="https://www.maineconnectivity.org/all-in">up to $300 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act</a>.)Butcher’s work at the Maine Broadband Coalition has been about empowering Mainers with solutions to get everyone connected, and particularly using technology as their secret weapon.<h3>From building community gardens in Pittsburgh to community broadband in Maine</h3>Butcher became MCA's president in early January 2022, when the state legislature confirmed his appointment. This puts him in charge of organizing the state’s efforts to parcel out all these funds.&nbsp;He has spent his career working to help local communities. He returned to Maine from Pittsburgh five years ago, where he ran an economic development organization he co-founded called <a href="https://groundedpgh.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grounded Strategies</a>. The non-profit focused on re-development as a platform for community regeneration. He was pretty busy: The city had 30,000 vacant lots at one point as a result of a 60 percent decline in the city’s population over the decades. When he moved, he was working with Carnegie Mellon University and the U.S. Postal Service on repurposing U.S. postal facilities, again, to help local communities. That led him to work with the cities of Lewiston and Portland, and the <a href="https://www.mainetechnology.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maine Technology Institute</a>.“It was not quite what drew me to Maine,” he said during a Zoom interview. “Maine drew me be close to the places and people that I love. I have family here, and I spent a good amount of my formative life coming here in the summertime - and have always dreamed of living here.”Having led the coalition for three years, Butcher is familiar with the protocol of coordinating with local communities and governments to roll out broadband networks. The Maine Broadband Coalition is the primary network of local communities, government agencies, service providers and technology companies working to bring universal, affordable and reliable internet access to the state.&nbsp;<h3>Empowering Mainers with solutions for broadband</h3>The coalition, now with full-time staff, still runs a very informative newsletter and set of programming that keeps stakeholders informed and connected, and reminds people when they can meet on a regular basis every Friday to talk about Broadband.&nbsp;“Informed and equipped people can be really effective in designing their own solutions,” Butcher told me from his home office over Zoom earlier this year. “They understand the problems better than anyone else, and they have the resourcefulness and capability to design their own solutions – and that’s true whether you’re building a community garden, like I did in Pittsburgh, or whether you’re building out broadband infrastructure, like we are in Maine”This belief is why he pushes for community engagement, capacity building and education. These things can help the community inform network builders and service providers what they really want.&nbsp;“We will continue to invest in the community-driven planning process, and we will try to incentivize regional-scale activities through utility districts where communities want to come together in that way.”&nbsp;In the past, several communities in Maine have banded together to form broadband utility districts to share the costs of running broadband to their homes.&nbsp;But that’s not the only way the state is going to expand broadband.&nbsp;<h3>Going All In and Getting Everyone Connected By 2024</h3>The relatively small state of 1.4 million inhabitants has had one of the most organized and coherent broadband strategies in the nation.&nbsp;During 2022, the MCA established what it calls its <a href="https://www.maineconnectivity.org/all-in" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">All-In Program</a>. The plan is to build broadband to more than 30,000 homes in rural and remote areas.&nbsp;That process will unfold, as required by the IIJA, in conjunction with the development of a statewide<a href="https://www.maineconnectivity.org/digital-equity">&nbsp;Digital Equity</a> and 5-Year Broadband Masterplan. The MCA opened up&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/blog/here-are-the-key-dates-for-Maine-broadband-grant-opportunities">the grant application process</a> for its various programs this fall. And it issued a Request for Proposals for partners to help it create a digital equity plan in November. The deadline for applications is December 16, 2022.&nbsp;The state also wanted to create an entity like a public power authority so that it can be creative with financing, Butcher said. The authority might, for example, issue bonds or make equity investments. That would make it possible for the authority to own and operate its own infrastructure and enter public-private partnerships. Butcher did not commit to doing any of that since there are federal restrictions on some of these kinds of activities, but he said that it’s good to be able to have “all options on the table.”&nbsp;The state’s plans say that the MCA’s goal is to get a broadband connection to anyone who wants one by the end of 2024.&nbsp;<h3>Maine’s secret weapon</h3>One of the tools that has helped Maine plan its networks and win a Broadband Infrastructure Project Grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration was its Broadband Intelligence Platform, Butcher said. Maine developed the tool with Vetro Fiber and Tilson Technology. It aggregates self-reported ISP network data with speed test information, among other things.&nbsp;“In 2021, the Platform allowed for us to rebut over 1200 challenges to the 15,000 locations that [service providers claimed were already served] that were submitted in our proposal,” he said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Butcher has spent 2022 establishing an impressive, team to manage all of this. When we spoke with him in April, he was looking to hire 15 people on top of the three full-time staff the MCA already had. The profile of the team is the envy of many other state offices and is composed of numerous leaders from a diversity of places and sectors around the state.&nbsp; Additionally the MCA has an diverse array of partners ranging lawyers from the Harvard Law School <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/clinics/in-house-clinics/cyberlaw-clinic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cyberlaw Clinic</a>, to the <a href="https://roux.northeastern.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Roux Institute</a> at Northeastern to the State Department of Transportation. They are helping the MCA create a middle mile strategy, and a business plan, as well as a financing guide for broadband utility districts. The lawyers are also helping the authority with compliance issues tied to grant funding to build networks from a variety of funding streams.&nbsp;Butcher had these words for providers interested in serving communities in Maine:&nbsp;“ISPs need to be able to engage with regional partnerships in a meaningful way. We also believe in a competitive market space that advances the diversity of options for consumers.&nbsp;“We also believe in being as efficient and judicious with use of public funding as possible, and certainly want to minimize inefficiencies or overbuild, as some people might call it. And so, it's hard for us to know what would be overbuilt if we don't know where people are going to be building. So information sharing and data sharing will be paramount to making sure that we know what is being planned for and how we can complement it, how we can augment it.”

Butcher’s work at the Maine Broadband Coalition is about empowering Mainers with solutions to get everyone connected

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Maine Connectivity Authority President Andrew Butcher: A community and consensus builder takes charge

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Broadband.money

Company

On November 15, 2022, the White House celebrated the one year anniversary of the passing of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that has become a signature item of the administration of President&nbsp;Joe Biden.Separately, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Commerce Department issued a <a href="https://ntia.gov/blog/2022/bipartisan-infrastructure-law-turns-one-progress-report-internet-all " target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement on the broadband-focused portions of the measuring</a>, calling the law an “ historic investment, providing resources to close the digital divide on an unprecedented scale.”Among the points of progress included the introduction of Notices of Funding Opportunity ahead of deadline, securing applications for participation in the broadband-focused programs from all eligible states and territories, obtaining 247 applications for middle mile grants, awarding $1.5 billion to Tribal entities and minority-serving institutions, highlighting federal program officers for every state.<h3>White House event</h3>Speaking at a more big-picture event, White House officials discussed the $1.75 trillion dollars made available for infrastructure projects, of which $65 billion was allotted specifically for broadband infrastructure.&nbsp;Tuesday’s call featured both former and current mayors, including former-Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana,&nbsp;Mitch Landrieu, former-Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia,&nbsp;Keisha Lance Bottoms, and the Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona,&nbsp;Kate Gallego.Their presence was aligned with the sentiment of their presentation, which emphasized the importance of non-federal actors in ensuring that federal funding is not squandered.&nbsp;Deputy Coordinator for the White House Infrastructure Implementation Team&nbsp;Samantha Silverberg stated that Tribal groups, businesses, philanthropic organizations, faith-based institutions, and state and local governments would be the most important players making sure that funding is dispersed in an equitable manner.The IIJA has been dubbed the “Build Back Better Framework” by the White House.&nbsp;“‘Better’ means no one is left behind,” Silverberg said. She pointed to the 14.8 million households that have taken advantage of free or reduced-cost broadband that has been made available to Americans via the Affordable Connectivity Program.&nbsp;She also stated that broadband was one of the primary sectors that has become a focus for workforce development initiatives designed to expedite the rate at which broadband infrastructure will be able to be deployed and maintained.&nbsp;During the call, Landrieu, who now serves as the senior advisor and broadband coordinator for the president’s administration, stated that his team is primarily concerned with three things: building a team, getting the money out, and telling a story.&nbsp;&nbsp;He said that the government has successfully pushed out $185 billion in federal monies, for 7,000 projects, across 4,000 communities, as part of the IIJA. He added that the government has hired 300,500 federal employees to assist with the implementation of the bill.<h3>Additional details from NTIA</h3>The NTIA statement included this additional information about the broadband portions of the measure:<blockquote>Because of these efforts, families across the U.S. will have expanded access to high-speed Internet service and digital skills training that will improve education, jobs, and healthcare.The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.internetforall.gov/">Internet For All</a> initiative is moving with speed to deliver on the Infrastructure Act’s goal.&nbsp; We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in the first year, which includes:<ul><li>Crafting&nbsp;<a href="https://ntia.gov/press-release/2022/biden-harris-administration-launches-45-billion-internet-all-initiative-bring">Notices of Funding Opportunity</a> –&nbsp;ahead of Congress’ deadline – for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD); Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure; and State Digital Equity Planning Grant programs explaining how funding will be awarded and establishing application deadlines for states and territories.</li><li>Obtaining&nbsp;<a href="https://ntia.gov/press-release/2022/biden-harris-administration-s-internet-all-initiative-moves-forward-100">applications</a> from&nbsp;all eligible states and territories—56 in total—to participate in Internet For All.</li><li>Securing&nbsp;247 applications for&nbsp;<a href="https://ntia.gov/press-release/2022/more-235-applications-submitted-biden-harris-administration-s-internet-all-middle">Middle Mile program grants</a>, which will reduce the cost of bringing high-speed Internet service to unserved and underserved communities.</li><li>Awarding more than&nbsp;$1.5 billion in grants to Tribal entities and minority-serving institutions—including&nbsp;more than&nbsp;<a href="https://ntia.gov/press-release/2022/biden-harris-administration-s-tribal-broadband-connectivity-program-hits">$300 million from the Infrastructure Act</a>—to ensure communities that are often the hardest to reach can deploy high-speed Internet service.</li><li>Calling more than&nbsp;2,500 Internet service providers to encourage them to provide data for the forthcoming map of high-speed Internet availability from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), on which NTIA will base its state budget allocations for the BEAD program.</li><li>Hiring Federal Program Officers to&nbsp;cover every state and territory participating in Internet For All to ensure each has a point of contact within NTIA for help with their broadband funding needs.</li><li>Co-hosting local coordination events in&nbsp;six states—and counting!</li><li>Holding&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/events/past-events">20 listening sessions and office hours as well as 22 webinars</a> to address concerns and questions from applicants.</li><li>Hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/resources/tribal-nations">seven consultations with hundreds of Tribal leaders</a> to solicit their input on program rules.</li><li>Conducting&nbsp;more than 70 one-on-one technical assistance sessions for applicants of non-competitive programs.</li><li>Responding to&nbsp;more than 360 inquiries across the BEAD, Digital Equity, and Middle Mile programs.</li><li>Addressing state and local government stakeholder groups such as the African American Mayors Association, the Council of State Governments, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the National Governors Association, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women.</li></ul></blockquote><a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2021/11/industry-reacts-to-infrastructure-signing-dish-signs-carriage-deal-with-sinclair-bring-your-own-ran/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Photo</a> of signing of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on November 15, 2022, by Ben Kahn from Broadband Breakfast

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has become a signature item of the administration of President Joe Biden.

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White House celebrates one year anniversary of bipartisan infrastructure law

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Benjamin Kahn

 Growth Marketing Manager

Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Biden administration has been working hard to lay the groundwork to get all Americans connected to the Internet.&nbsp;The IIJA is the United States' largest ever investment in establishing affordable, high-speed internet access for all.Broadband.money has been working hard too to arm providers, state and local government officials, and the public with tools to easily <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-grant-portals" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">see where the money should go</a>, to <a href="https://broadband.money/how-it-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">apply for funding</a>, and then to manage their networks and comply with funding requirements.Find out more <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/c/broadband-grant-events/broadband-money-office-hours" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this Wednesday</a> when Broadband.money's Scott D. Woods holds online office hours to show you how to use the <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-guides/community-kit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Community Broadband Kit</a> to establish your local community's current connectivity profile, and our<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-audits" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Broadband Audit </a>pages to see the big picture of where new networks ought to be built.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Learn how to win your share of the IIJA's BEAD grants this Wednesday with Ready's Vice President of Community Engagement and Strategic Partnerships

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Join us on the 1-year anniversary of the Infrastructure Act

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On November 3, 2022, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives released its&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/DOC_NTIA_OMBI_Congressional_Report.pdf">first annual report</a>, touting more than $20 million in awards disbursed.OMBI, established in August 2021, <a href="https://ntia.gov/blog/2022/ombi-identifies-barriers-helps-close-digital-divide" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">promotes broadband connectivity</a> for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal colleges and universities, minority-serving institutions, and anchor communities.In addition to awarding more than $20 million through the Connecting Minority Communities pilot program, OMBI says it built relationships with a range of public and private stakeholders to further its mission. OMBI also provided technical assistance that “buil[t] capacity of institutions, students, and anchor communities.”Looking ahead, OMBI identified three sets of barriers: availability, affordability, and adoption. Communities and institutions struggle with inadequate or outdated infrastructure, the report says, and remote areas often lack some necessary infrastructure entirely.&nbsp;In addition, students often have limited access to badly needed devices and technical support, OMBI says. Knowledge and language barriers also disadvantage communities and institutions, it adds.OMBI laid out four “next steps” towards digital equity:<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>“Continue to build capacity of anchor institutions and their communities.”</li><li>“Explore lessons learned from the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program to develop best practices to expand digital access and adoption.”</li><li>“Coordinate resources and efforts to support the Administration’s Internet for All grant programs.”</li><li>“Explore partnerships with relevant digital equity stakeholders in support of anchor institutions and their communities.”</li></ol>“This inaugural report represents the Office’s initial insights into the barriers to broadband access faced by HBCUs, TCUs, and MSIs, and within their anchor communities,” the report concludes. “In future years, the Office will build on this baseline understanding and dig deeper into these barriers.”“These colleges and universities are the heartbeat of their communities,” said Doug Kinkoph, assistant administrator of the NTIA’s&nbsp;Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth, which houses OMBI. “By working together, we can quickly pinpoint the barriers to availability, affordability, and adoption of high-speed Internet service in minority communities, and promote initiatives that can mitigate these challenges.”“The first OMBI Annual Report marks a milestone in our mission to address high-speed Internet deployment challenges in vulnerable communities,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. “The newly created Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives will lead the way to ensure that these critical anchor institutions and the communities they serve have access to high-speed, affordable Internet service.”Read the report for yourself by following the link: What do you think of OMBI’s first year? And what do you hope it will accomplish in the future?

Established in established in August 2021, the office has focused on connectivity for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal colleges and universities, and minority-serving institutions

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NTIA's Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives publishes progress report

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Biden administration officials recently gathered with state and local government stakeholders from around the country to discuss the Federal Communications Commission's Fabric map and broadband funding allocations.&nbsp;The two successive mapping workshops took place last week at the <a href="https://www.shlb.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Schools, Health &amp; Libraries Broadband Coalition</a>'s <a href="https://broadband.money/blog/join-broadband-mapping-experts-and-broadband-money-wednesday-afternoon-to-learn-from-the-best" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">10th annual AnchorNETS conference</a> in Crystal City, Virginia.&nbsp;Below are 8 top takeaways we came away with.&nbsp;<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>Local governments must take an active role in determining the quality of the Federal Communications Commission’s Fabric map.&nbsp; The <a href="https://broadband.money/annotated-resources/annotated-guide-to-iija-broadband-programs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act </a>creates a formula for allocating the $42.5 billion in broadband grant funding. Every state and territory will receive at least $100 million.&nbsp; But the rest will be determined &nbsp;according to the ratio of state’s unserved locations to all unserved locations nationwide. These calculations will rely on the FCC’s <a href="https://broadband.money/blog/will-the-fcc-s-fabric-map-really-enable-communities-to-see-their-broadband-realities" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fabric map</a> for its data on locations that are considered served or unserved. &nbsp;  The Fabric initially relies on ISPs telling the FCC where they provide service. ISPs report the maximum advertised speeds of service to the FCC. This information is not independently verified by speed tests. &nbsp; &nbsp; The <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-116publ130" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband DATA Act</a>, the law that requires the FCC to build the fabric and establishes a challenge process, uses those challenges as a correction mechanism for the initial reporting.&nbsp; “State, local, and Tribal governments, service providers, and other entities can begin to file bulk challenges to data in the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (Fabric), which serves as the foundation for the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) fixed availability maps,” <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2022/09/broadband-serviceable-location-fabric-bulk-challenge-process-webinar" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according to </a>the FCC. &nbsp; This means that resource-strapped local governments will need all the help they can get within the next four months before the FCC publishes its maps and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) starts using it to calculate its BEAD grant allocations.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; “The accuracy of the information in these maps will determine how much money states are going to receive and that is huge — especially for unserved and underserved areas -- the same areas that have been neglected and left behind in the past because they have had the fewest resources to actually make sure that the accuracy of this information is where it needs to be,” declared Ovidu Viorica, broadband program manager for <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/new-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New Mexico</a>’s public schools during the workshop. &nbsp;  Added Kevin Sievert, program director of broadband deployment for <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/north-dakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">North Dakota</a>: “At the state level, we don't have the vision down to every local locality. So there really needs to be a kind of a groundswell of challenges and validation of this data in order for us to make it as accurate as possible.” &nbsp; That’s why Broadband.money created the <a href="https://broadband.money/community-broadband-kit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Community Broadband Kit</a>. Local governments can use this free resource to create their <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-audits" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">broadband audit</a>.&nbsp; &nbsp;</li><li>There’s still time for local governments to advocate for themselves, and to frame the terms of discussion over the best ways to get their communities broadband access. &nbsp;  “A lot of the responses from the NTIA and the FCC indicated that there are a lot of things still in the works,” noted Stephanie Jane Edwards, the North Carolina Broadband Infrastructure Office’s broadband mapping and data lead. “And that means that we still have a great amount of opportunity for advocacy on what we want to see, and more specific answers about timelines and granularities.” &nbsp; Many state and local officials (and others) had peppered the two administration officials at the panel with questions about the nature of the FCC’s fabric, what kinds of challenges are allowed, the differences between a challenge and a crowdsourced report from a consumer, the openness of Fabric data, and the role of community anchor institutions, among other things.&nbsp; Nick Alexander, a senior NTIA telecommunications policy analyst, and Kirk Burgee, the FCC’s wireline competition bureau chief, were not able to answer several of the questions immediately. &nbsp;</li><li>Nobody really understands the terms on which the FCC’s Fabric data can be used.&nbsp; This leads to the next big takeaway from SHLB’s AnchorNETs 2022 mapping workshop: Nobody really understands the terms on which the FCC’s Fabric data can be used because the Fabric is governed by a secret procurement contract. &nbsp; &nbsp; Both Alexander and Burgee were repeatedly asked questions about how state and local governments and the public can use Fabric data, and the terms on which it can be accessed. The answers they gave all boiled down to: “It’s complicated.”&nbsp; At one point, Alexander said: “There's a complicated kind of partnership chain that is a function of the license agreements.” &nbsp;  This hobbles local governments because they need to navigate a bureaucratic system to even access basic information they need to conduct analyses of their own communities’ needs. &nbsp; Dustin Loup, the Marconi Society’s National Broadband Mapping Coalition Program Manager, told workshop participants that he has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the the FCC’s contract with mapping vendor CostQuest.&nbsp; He was told that the terms of the contract would be redacted. &nbsp; “Because of the restriction on [allowable] uses [of the data] and the restricted access, it's very difficult to provide support at the local level,” he said. “It also makes it difficult to do things that should be done in the coordination process, like a local governments should be able to check some of the broadband serviceable locations against the public utility information, and say: ‘Oh, what they're all these residential electric connections?’”&nbsp; That kind of analysis could enable a local government to challenge the accuracy of the Fabric. “But they're not allowed to share it this way, because it's so restricted,” Loup said. “And all of this ties back to the fact that this is a proprietary locked down dataset that we're kind of forced to help build, and ISPs are forced to submit to it.” &nbsp;  Kelleigh Cole, Utah’s former broadband outreach director, threw out this hypothetical during the mapping workshop: “So say that I take my state map, I've seen the Fabric, I make adjustments to my state, not addresses but maybe I adjust polygons or I make some change [and] trim a state map because of whatever I've seen on the Fabric. Am I violating the license? Is that okay to do? " There is no clear answer.&nbsp; Cole is currently director of strategic initiatives at the Utah Education and Telehealth Network. &nbsp;</li><li>The FCC’s Fabric will only reflect very limited information about broadband availability and will not reflect the digital divide&nbsp;&nbsp; “On the fixed side, we're not accepting speed tests to show that service is not provisioned at a location,” the FCC’s Burgee said during the mapping workshop.&nbsp; &nbsp; The IIJA focusses funding on unserved, underserved, and high cost areas, which require broadband grantors to understand the performance of networks in order to properly direct funding. &nbsp; But the Fabric will only reflect advertised availability, not verified performance levels. Recent <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6165cb6ecbf6d70401a212f6/t/6345ca9c147af0682276fb3d/1665518251184/Broadband+Pricing+Disparities+Report+-+Oct+2022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">investigations </a>by the <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6165cb6ecbf6d70401a212f6/t/6345ca9c147af0682276fb3d/1665518251184/Broadband+Pricing+Disparities+Report+-+Oct+2022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">California Community Foundation</a> and the non-profit investigative newsroom <a href="https://themarkup.org/still-loading/2022/10/19/dollars-to-megabits-you-may-be-paying-400-times-as-much-as-your-neighbor-for-internet-service" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Markup </a>have shown the importance of the role that socio-economic data and speed test information is in trying to determine where to focus resources to improve access to under-resourced areas. &nbsp; <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-grant-portals" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband.money’s broadband grant maps </a>are designed to provide communities with this information. &nbsp;  For his part, Burgee acknowledged the utility of additional information that’s necessary to figure out whether low-income populations are able to get reasonable terms of access to broadband, but said that it wasn’t something that would be incorporated into current FCC maps. &nbsp; When asked at the mapping workshop whether the FCC would include affordability and reliability factors in the Fabric, Burgee said: “In a perfect world, we would have all that data. It's it adds a layer of significant complexity to do that. We weren't tasked with it with the broadband data. It's not to say it couldn't become a part of the collection or different collections in the future.”  That echoes what another FCC spokesperson said recently: &nbsp;“I want to make sure people understand and are clear that what we are collecting is availability data,” Eduard Bartholme, the FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force’s senior outreach director, said during a recent Webinar. “So while adoption, affordability and quality of delivered services are very important, they’re outside of the scope of what the FCC was tasked with under the Broadband Data Act back in 2020.”&nbsp; &nbsp;</li><li>It will be up to ISPs to resolve consumer challenges that report broadband availability inaccuracies in the Fabric.&nbsp; &nbsp; Here’s how the consumer challenge process will work, as described by Burgee:&nbsp; “A consumer submits a challenge to give us evidence that the service is not consistent with what's been filed. That information is transmitted to the provider (that is relevant to that provider,) which has 60 days to admit the accuracy of the challenge, or they can dispute it. If they dispute it, there's a 60-day period that commences, during which the provider is required to work with the challenger to clarify any misunderstandings to make sure that everybody has the full facts. And hopefully that will resolve a lot of challenges.” &nbsp;</li><li>The FCC will publish a broadband funding map by March 2023 so that broadband grant-making entities can co-ordinate funding between different programs and agencies. “It basically is intended to reflect areas where there has been firm commitments from funding agencies,” Burgee said.&nbsp; &nbsp;</li><li>Challengers are encouraged to submit challenges to the accuracy of a reported “broadband serviceable location” if even just one unit of an apartment building can’t get the level of service reported by a provider.  “Generally, a multi tenant dwelling is a structure that will be considered as a broadband serviceable location, and we identify the number of units. That number can be challenged. If a resident of a unit within that structure is not able to get the service as reported, that would be a legitimate challenge and we could potentially call into question the reporting for the entire structure,” Burgee said.&nbsp; &nbsp;</li><li>Schools, health facilities and libraries — basically any community anchor institution, should make sure that they understand what kind of broadband service their institution subscribes to, and make sure that they communicate with the FCC about it, or they will be omitted from the Fabric by default.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Broadband DATA Act — the law behind the creation of the FCC’s Fabric – specifies that the FCC collect information only for “mass market” broadband service, and not “enterprise” subscriptions that many institutions subscribe to, Burgee said.&nbsp; Therefore many CAIs are not included in the Fabric. But as New Mexico’s schools Broadband Program Manager Viorica pointed out, many small CAIs might subscribe to retail or mass market kind of internet services. &nbsp; “That's something that can be brought to our attention, as part of the challenge process. If the evidence is compelling, we would change that categorization,” Burgee said.&nbsp; That change would mean that the Fabric would include that CAI as a broadband serviceable location that’s eligible for broadband funding.&nbsp;</li></ol>

The FCC's secret procurement contract puts local governments in an unfair "hurry up and wait" position as they work to land funding to close the digital divide.

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​​Broadband.money’s Top 8 Takeaways from AnchorNETS' 2022 Mapping Panel

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Sarah Lai Stirland

Director of Digital Community

At this point, those who are closely following the rollout of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act know that the Federal Communications Commission is creating a broadband map called the “broadband service location fabric.”&nbsp;Those following the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act know that the fabric will be used to apportion funding under the IIJA’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. That various governments, ISPs, and other stakeholders can submit challenges to the fabric’s data is also part of the discussion.Yet we also know the fabric is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fiercetelecom.com/broadband/conexon-exec-flags-impending-bead-mapping-train-wreck">full</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/09/state-broadband-maps-show-significantly-fewer-served-locations-than-does-fccs-map/">of</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.zcorum.com/isps-struggled-with-the-fccs-inaugural-broadband-data-collection-process">errors</a>. While&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/09/fcc-challenge-process-important-for-getting-accurate-maps-says-technology-policy-institute/">some</a> are&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/09/nations-most-accurate-broadband-map-will-come-from-fcc-challenge-process-ntca/">more bullish</a> on its long-term accuracy than others, everyone –&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/09/fccs-fabric-challenge-process-important-part-of-getting-map-right-agency-says/">including the FCC</a> – agree that the challenge process will be crucial going forward.What is unclear, however, is exactly how the challenge process works. The FCC has posted information pages and hosted webinars, but many stakeholders still struggle to understand exactly how they are expected to submit their data for review.The FCC has&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/09/fcc-broadband-data-task-force-emphasizes-need-for-precision-in-mapping-challenges/">been clear</a> that following the challenge rules with exactness is essential. To demystify the seven types of bulk challenges, <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/Bulk-Fabric-Challenge" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband.Money assembled a help page</a> that contains challenge-category explanations and provides additional context.

The FCC has posted information pages and hosted webinars on the challenge process, but many stakeholders still struggle to understand exactly how they are expected to submit their data for review.

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Bulk challenges to the FCC's broadband fabric

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The Schools, Health &amp; Libraries Broadband Coalition will kick off <a href="https://www.shlbconference.org/event/7041d0d2-2d23-42e9-b53e-2e8b4887cf83/summary?RefId=shlborg">their 10th Annual AnchorNETS Conference</a> tomorrow, Wednesday, October 12, and the event will run through Friday, October 14.&nbsp; AnchorNETS 2022 will host a series of amazing events that will help stakeholders become equipped and informed to better support the communities they serve. On Wednesday, be sure to tune in to the Broadband Mapping Workshop beginning at 1 p.m. EST. The event is divided into two parts; it will open with some updates on the mapping and challenge process, which will be delivered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Telecommunications Policy Specialist with the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth Nick Alexander. He will be presenting alongside Federal Communications Commission Senior Counsel Kirk Burgee, with the agency’s Broadband Data Task Force. Following a short networking break after their presentations, a discussion and Q&amp;A will feature heavy hitters in broadband mapping from the industry:&nbsp;<ul><li>Brandon Herndon - Director, <a href="https://www.cgit.vt.edu/NewHome.html">Virginia Tech - Center for Geospatial Information Technology</a></li><li>Kelleigh Cole - Director, Strategic Initiatives - <a href="https://uetn.org/">Utah Education &amp; Telehealth Network</a></li><li>Charlotte Bewersdorff - VP Community Engagement,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.merit.edu/">Merit Network</a></li><li>Stephanie Jane Edwards - Mapping &amp; Data Lead, Broadband Infrastructure Office, <a href="https://it.nc.gov/">NC Department of Information Technology</a></li><li>Dustin Loup - Project Manager,&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandmappingcoalition.org/">National Broadband Mapping Coalition</a></li></ul> Each speaker will give a brief presentation before collectively discussing the topics at hand. During his lightning talk, Herndon will share what he finds to be the most pressing takeaways from Virginia’s recent mapping effort.&nbsp; Cole will provide a retrospective on lessons learned over the course of the last decade, and how stakeholders can avoid the same pitfalls faced during the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act during the Great Recession.&nbsp; Bewersdorff will discuss how local entities can get tangible results. She will share the stories on how various communities have been able to execute on BEAD funding, and the best practices they have used to get favorable outcomes.Edwards will focus on the importance of data, and how stakeholders should leverage data to track problems and come up with solutions. Dustin Loup will pick up the tail end of the presentations, where he will address how the Broadband Mapping Coalition is working to solve the issues facing communities in the wake of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.The group will also discuss the <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-audit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband Audit</a> – <a href="https://toolkit.broadband.money" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">another tool that communities can use</a> to gain in-depth analyses of the ways their communities are served (or unserved).

Among the great events that will be taking place at the conference, a panel of broadband mapping experts will be convening on Wednesday to help stakeholders better understand how they can leverage broadband data and mapping to serve their communities. 

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SHLB 10th Annual AnchorNETS Conference

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Join Broadband Mapping Experts and Broadband.money Wednesday Afternoon to Learn from the Best

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We're super excited to celebrate the 10th annual <a href="https://www.shlbconference.org/event/7041d0d2-2d23-42e9-b53e-2e8b4887cf83/websitePage:645d57e4-75eb-4769-b2c0-f201a0bfc6ce" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SHLB AnchorNETS conference</a> in Arlington, Virginia next week with the <a href="https://www.shlb.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Schools, Health &amp; Libraries Broadband Coalition</a>.&nbsp;Conference organizers have assembled a stellar group of change-makers who are all working hard to close the digital divide.It's not possible to do that without anchor institutions, in our opinion. Anchor institutions are just that — they are anchors that tether communities that would otherwise be adrift without the resources and support provided by schools, health institutions, libraries and other kinds of community centers.Community anchor institutions must be engaged and activated in order to make the most of the nation’s largest – and almost certainly last – investment in telecommunications infrastructure through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's BEAD funding program.&nbsp;Next week's AnchorNETs conference will provide us all with the opportunity to think best about how we can do this. &nbsp;Among the sessions we're looking forward to:&nbsp;<ul><li>The Digital Equity Showcase</li><li>The Broadband Mapping Workshop</li><li>A keynote from Director of the U.S. National Institute of Museum and Library Services' Crosby Kemper III</li><li>A keynote from NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson's</li><li>Making the most of BEAD investments</li><li>Reports from the federal and state levels (Kansas and New Hampshire) on the progress of the Capital Projects' Fund&nbsp;</li><li>How states will prioritize funding from the IIJA's Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment program.</li><li>A discussion between Federal Communications Commissioner staffers for Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks</li><li>How Los Angeles is deleting the digital divide … and&nbsp;</li><li>A congressional staffer panel&nbsp;</li></ul>Broadband.money recognizes the importance of community anchor institutions.&nbsp;That's why subscribers can use Broadband.money to identify and index all U.S. anchor institutions, so you can engage these vital institutions in your broadband grant proposals.&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Anchors_GIF_4a7e4472a7/Anchors_GIF_4a7e4472a7.gif"></figure>One of the important questions we hope to tackle at AnchorNETs is the impact of the FCC's decision to assume that all anchor institutions are served in its forthcoming fabric map.The assumption seems to directly contravene the goals of the IIJA's BEAD funding program. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) specifically asks broadband grant applicants to explain how they define the term “community anchor institution,” (CAI,) how they will identify each CAI in their jurisdiction, and how they “assessed the needs of eligible CAIs, including what types of CAIs it intends to serve; which institutions, if any, it considered but declined to classify as CAIs; and, if the Eligible Entity proposes service to one or more CAIs in a category not explicitly cited as a type of CAI” in the IIJA.For its part, the NTIA <a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/BEAD%20NOFO.pdf">defines community anchor institutions in its BEAD NOFO</a> as:<blockquote>“an entity such as a school, library, health clinic, health center, hospital or other medical provider, public safety entity, institution of higher education, public housing organization, or community support organization that facilitates greater use of broadband service by vulnerable populations, including, but not limited to, low-income individuals, unemployed individuals, children, the incarcerated, and aged individuals. An Eligible Entity may propose to NTIA that additional types of institutions should qualify as CAIs within the entity’s territory.</blockquote>The NOFO also states:<blockquote>“NTIA underscores its strong preference that Eligible Entities also ensure deployment of gigabit connections to community anchor institutions such as libraries and community centers that lack such connectivity.”</blockquote>How will states and territories use broadband grant funding to make sure that anchor institutions and their communities are adequately served?&nbsp;Come join us at <a href="https://www.shlbconference.org/event/7041d0d2-2d23-42e9-b53e-2e8b4887cf83/websitePage:645d57e4-75eb-4769-b2c0-f201a0bfc6ce" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SHLB AnchorNETS conference</a> in Arlington, Virginia next week to find out.&nbsp;

SHLB has a blockbuster lineup of changemakers dedicating themselves to closing the digital divide. Join the discussion next week in Arlington, Virginia. 

Back Why we're excited about SHLB Coalition AnchorNets 10

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Why we're excited about SHLB Coalition's AnchorNets 10

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During a recent<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9oSq09WeXo"> online discussion</a>, Shayna Englin, Director of the <a href="https://www.calfund.org/digital-equity-initiative/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">California Community Foundation’s Digital Equity Initiative</a>, recounted how low income and immigrant neighborhoods in Los Angeles haven't, for a longtime, been able to subscribe to broadband internet plans.&nbsp;Non-profit organizations offering services in the area realized that their residents needed better broadband in order to take advantage of the basic healthcare and education services. Whenever clients tried to get the local large commercial broadband provider to provide affordable services, the response always was: “You have service.”&nbsp;The leaders of the neighborhood development project <a href="https://destinationcrenshaw.la" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Destination Crenshaw</a> took action to address this problem. They compiled a report with data gathered through a painstaking, organized community effort, and realized that specific areas were being<a href="https://www.governing.com/community/the-nuances-of-digital-redlining-explained"> digitally red-lined</a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://thecounty.me/2022/09/15/news/business-news/county-partners-launch-broadband-survey/">Local entities</a> around the nation are conducting what effectively amount to what we are calling<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-audit"> broadband audits</a>. To prevent every locality from having to reinvent the wheel, and in an effort to ensure industry-standard best practices, Broadband.money is making a free <a href="https://toolkit.broadband.money/">broadband community kit</a> available so that you can generate your own broadband feasibility study.&nbsp;You’ll get best practices recommendations for browser-based speed test surveys, and the speed test result portion of the surveys will be fed back into our<a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-grant-portals"> broadband grant maps</a>.&nbsp;In Los Angeles' case, the report is likely to generate significant interest because the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act<a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-crackdown-on-digital-redlining-9090788/"> instructs</a> the Federal Communications Commission to create rules to end digital redlining.The data is likely to draw regulators' attention to focus on how digital redlining works, and how they can end the practice.&nbsp;It could also show local and state communities around the nation how to document the practice for themselves.&nbsp;“What we saw is that in higher poverty communities of color, communities with a high immigrant population, [they] were really consistently charged a lot more for the same service tiers as their neighbors in whiter, wealthier communities, which doesn't make a ton of sense from a business perspective,” Englin said. After asking around, the authors of the study were told that the service provider was likely engaging in the practice to disincentivize subscriptions to a service in an area with outdated cable technology that doesn't have the bandwidth to handle large volumes of traffic and subscribers, Englin said.&nbsp;The community survey also revealed that many low-income households weren’t taking advantage of the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) internet subsidy program because the large commercial internet service provider’s salespeople didn’t know what it is and how to enroll people for it, Englin said.&nbsp;The study also found that many of these low-income households didn’t understand their telecommunications bills, or that they had options to pick from a menu of services, and they didn't have to subscribe to an entire telecommunications package.&nbsp;The result is that these households don’t subscribe to broadband.&nbsp;“And so the actual availability is not there,”&nbsp; Englin said during a<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9oSq09WeXo"> Benton Society panel discussion</a> on broadband mapping on Monday.&nbsp;“That's an example of where the infrastructure availability question, and the pricing and adoption questions really do intersect, and you can’t really contemplate that without those — the speed test data and the pricing data laid against availability data over and above what the ISP says."&nbsp;That's why it's so important to think in a holistic way about data gathering, and why speed tests are important when it comes to broadband mapping, Englin said.&nbsp;A study<a href="https://www.lightreading.com/digital-divide/study-highlights-impact-of-digital-redlining/d/d-id/779933"> published this August</a> from the University of Pennsylvania also showed how Philadelphia suffers from digital redlining.&nbsp;Yet the much-anticipated new national broadband map that the Federal Communications Commission has been charged with compiling will show that these neighborhoods do have broadband service.&nbsp;That’s because the maps will only reflect whether an ISP's advertised service is actually available for purchase, not anything else.&nbsp;“I want to make sure people understand and are clear that what we are collecting is availability data,” said Eduard Bartholme, the FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force’s senior outreach director, during the Monday discussion. “So while adoption, affordability and quality of delivered services are very important, they’re outside of the scope of what the FCC was tasked with under the Broadband Data Act back in 2020.”&nbsp;“I think another thing that’s really important for everyone to be aware of is that what we are collecting is the maximum speed that is offered for purchase at a location,” he elaborated. “So for example, our maps will show that a provider may offer 200 [Mbps] down over five … that’s what they’re offering for sale. That’s not the performance the consumer may find when they run speed tests at that location … but what the maps [reflect] is what’s available for purchase.”&nbsp;Local governments and other ISPs can challenge the claims of service providers’ coverage claims, and the FCC will ultimately adjudicate those claims, Bartholme said. He urged the public to go through the FCC’s relevant reports and orders to understand the adjudication process.&nbsp;Dustin Loup, the<a href="https://www.marconisociety.org/magazine/meet-dustin-loup-national-broadband-mapping-coalition-program-manager/"> Marconi Society’s National Broadband Mapping Coalition Program Manager</a>, moderated the discussion.In answer to Loup's question about whether challenge information would be published online, Bartholme said that the FCC's maps would reflect areas that were being challenged and that:&nbsp;“There is an adjudication process that the commission would undertake to ultimately determine the outcome of a challenge if there’s no ability for the person filing the challenge and the provider involved in the challenge to come together and reach an outcome by working with each other.”The FCC will also later allow consumers to “fact-check” ISPs’ offerings in their area. But it’s still unclear what the FCC will do with the information. ISPs will not be obligated to respond to the complaints.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sarah Morris, a senior advisor at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said that the NTIA had written its BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) hoping to incentivize service providers to upgrade their networks.“This is certainly a tension that we are aware of, and one that we tried to thread the needle very carefully to address in our NOFO,” she said. “We do see the need to incentivize where possible, or financially viable, future-proof builds, and that's what we are hoping to do.”The IIJA directs states to come up with their own challenge programs to enable local communities to challenge incorrect or incomplete information state authorities might have about local broadband needs.&nbsp;That process enables local governments, nonprofit organizations, or providers to challenge state and territories’ determinations of local areas’ connectivity and grant funding needs – as defined by the number of locations that are unserved and underserved in their IIJA BEAD grant funding application to the NTIA.&nbsp;The worry is that states may undercount the number of locations needing grant funding because of exaggerated coverage claims by monopoly incumbent providers, or because of other faulty data.&nbsp;&nbsp;The IIJA determines that locations are unserved if they have connections that can only manage speeds of less than 25/3 Mbps upload/download. Underserved areas are those locations that have connections that offer speeds of less than 100/20 Mbps.At least<a href="https://muninetworks.org/content/united-states-broadband"> 12 states have created their own</a> broadband maps. The NTIA is<a href="https://broadband.money/blog/NTIA-is-creating-state-level-coalitions-to-push-for-state-support-for-broadband-rollout"> mandating that states vigorously engage with local communities</a> to discover their broadband needs.&nbsp;That's why Broadband.money<a href="https://broadband.money/blog/mayors-broadband-grants-for-cities"> urges local government leaders</a>, community leaders, local broadband champions and action teams to conduct<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-audit"> broadband audits</a> with our free<a href="https://toolkit.broadband.money/"> broadband community kit</a>.

The gulf between theory and reality became apparent during a broadband mapping discussion between a grassroots non-profit and a Federal Communications Commission staffer 

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Investigation in urban Los Angeles reveals need for broadband audits

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Back in November 2021 when President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, he promised: “This law is going to make high-speed Internet affordable and available everywhere — everywhere in America — urban suburban, rural — and create jobs laying down those broadband lines.No parent should have to sit in a parking lot at a fast-food restaurant again just so their child can use the Internet to do their homework. That’s over.”But almost a year after he signed the law, questions are swirling about the way the Federal Communications Commission is carrying out a key component of the goal, which is the implementation of a more accountable mapping system that shows which areas of the country most need subsidized and grant-funded broadband networks. The map is being managed by CostQuest, a private-sector contractor.“There is a really important role for communities to play in building this information from the ground up and getting some some ground truth,” said Dustin Loup, the Marconi Society’s <a href="https://www.marconisociety.org/programs-services/broadband-mapping/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Broadband Mapping Coalition</a>’s project manager in a recent discussion on broadband mapping with Broadband Breakfast. “Designing a transparent evidence-based streamlined challenge process for the [Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment] program that allows communities to use that ground truth to make the case for the funding that they need is an opportunity to mobilize those communities in a way that helps them advocate for themselves, but also builds a better state level database and hopefully that translates into a better national database.”The “ground truth” Loup is referring to is the ability for local communities to conduct Internet speed tests to verify that Internet service providers are actually providing the level of service that they say they are providing, among other things.&nbsp;(Broadband.money is providing local communities with a <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-audit">broadband community kit </a>where they can conduct multiple speed tests simultaneously using best practice methodology and instructions, and it will also include a comprehensive qualitative survey so local communities can determine their exact needs.) It's called a <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-audit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">broadband audit</a>.&nbsp;But the FCC has recently<a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/specs-available-bulk-broadband-data-collection-fixed-challenges"> said </a>that it’s not, for the most part, going to accept third-party speed tests as a form of verification, and even when it does, it will only do so in an amorphous auditing capacity. ISPs won’t have to respond to crowdsourced speed test data. And the FCC is also limiting initial access to its new mapping system. Anyone accessing the publicly-funded $45 million mapping system must obtain a license through CostQuest that limits their access to specific portions of the map and not share access with anyone else.&nbsp;&nbsp;This poses a problem for local and regional organizations preparing to apply for federal funding to deploy new networks to unserved and underserved communities, and which have used speed tests to map out broadband service in their areas.&nbsp;The idea behind the new federal map is better accuracy. The FCC’s current broadband coverage map is based on ISPs’ self-reported availability data, which is prone to exaggeration and is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/29/fcc-broadband-maps-biden-523425">famous </a>for its <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/08/the-fccs-horrible-broadband-mapping-system-is-finally-getting-an-upgrade/">inaccuracies </a>and a resulting misallocation of billions of dollars of broadband grants.&nbsp;&nbsp;The goal of the current push (mandated by the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1822">Broadband DATA Act) </a>is to figure out the areas of demand that telecom companies have deemed not worth serving financially, but under the current self-reported mapping system are reported as served. Communities often use speed tests, as well as other methods, to determine what level of service is available.&nbsp;State broadband offices need to work with local communities and create a database to share with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to determine the grant allocations they should receive under the BEAD grant funding program. Under BEAD, Internet speeds less than 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload (hence the reference to 25/3 Mbps) are considered unserved and Internet speeds less than 100/20 Mbps are considered underserved. NTIA is the agency administering the $42.5 billion in broadband funding from the IIJA.&nbsp;When asked whether his organization would challenge the FCC map when it’s expected to be published in November, Ohio’s <a href="https://buckeyehills.org/">Buckeye Hills Regional Council</a>’s Broadband Coordinator Ryan Collins said: “Our maps are based on speed tests and speed tests aren’t allowed to be used to challenge the map.”&nbsp;Asked how his organization then plans on challenging discrepancies it sees on the FCC’s map, he said: “That’s the question we’re all asking: ‘How are community organizations supposed to – in a reasonable amount of time, and within a reasonable amount of resources, challenge it?”&nbsp;The Council along with other partners, has created a <a href="https://connectingappalachia.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">web site </a>with county-level broadband availability maps and the associated costs of getting connected. It used speed tests results provided by Ookla to create the maps.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Buckeye Regional Council represents the eight counties of Athens, Hocking, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Perry, and Washington in Southeastern Ohio in the Appalachian region. Key members include local elected officials and representatives from the educational, healthcare, forestry and farming communities and local mayors.&nbsp;Ultimately, Collins said, the council hopes to work with the state to inform the FCC’s map. Allowable forms of challenges to the FCC’s map include knowledge of infrastructure, information collected from consumers about whether advertised services are available or not available to them, and “other.”&nbsp;Collins’ organization isn’t the only one that’s frustrated. Loup has been leading the <a href="https://broadbandmappingcoalition.org/">Broadband Mapping Coalition</a> for several months and meeting with the FCC’s Task Force. Members of the coalition include Google, Broadband.money (us) the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the Internet Society, MLab, XLab and Next Century Cities, among others.&nbsp;Members of the coalition have complained that the FCC is effectively sticking to its “trust and don’t verify” regulatory approach to broadband mapping, and have asked repeatedly how the FCC will verify ISP’s coverage claims effectively if it doesn’t have a public process to adjudicate potentially thousands of disputes. And members also worry about the public’s limited ability to access the mapping data such as location IDs without a license provided by CostQuest. That could hobble third party efforts to integrate the data with “the ground truth” data that Loup was talking about to easily check the FCC’s Fabric map.&nbsp;All this has members looking to work with states to make sure state broadband offices have accurate information informed by empirical data, i.e., speed tests, instead of the FCC. The goal is now to create an industry “best practices” standard of speed test data that states could use as they create their own evidence-based challenge processes required by the NTIA for BEAD grants.Speed tests have long stirred debates in the telecom industry because of the many different elements that have to be in place to make sure that they are actually measuring what they say they are measuring. But a <a href="https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=759099099100077018029018075018090025023080034035049002106083111067071082022110094005019106107032112124109125126093112005019002061037071049081096017071025072105070068085019023112065064115107125100110004022119026078010110096122066067013071015000115006&amp;EXT=pdf&amp;INDEX=TRUE">draft analysis</a> on MLab’s NDT test from MIT initially reports that: “We found that there were enough data points in one month, [in] one state, to give what seems to be a representative characterization of performance. The fact that the data is crowd-sourced does not prevent us from drawing justifiable conclusions, provided those conclusions are crafted with care, carefully stated and qualified.”In a recent newsletter article, Jonathan Chambers, a<a href="https://broadband.money/events/ask-me-anything-with-jonathan-chambers"> recent AMA guest,</a> partner at <a href="https://conexon.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Conexon </a>and the FCC’s former Chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, requested that the NTIA establish clear guidelines and provide technical assistance for the state mandated challenge process under BEAD. He noted that the FCC has “published <a href="https://www.usac.org/high-cost/annual-requirements/performance-measures-testing/">speed test protocols </a>for every ISP that receives federal funding for rural areas. Those are the same protocols that should be used by challengers. It is a simple matter for state broadband offices to verify the validity of speed tests that follow the FCC’s [already established] protocols.”

The FCC's new Fabric map is meant to more accurately target broadband grant awards, but will it?  

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Will the FCC’s Fabric Map Really Enable Communities To See Their Broadband Realities?

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The Biden administration is going to work “in deep partnership" with states, territories' and local governments across the country to construct broadband plans for the $42.5 billion in broadband infrastructure funding "in a radically transparent way,” promised Evan Feinman, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program director.&nbsp;Feinman urged ISPs to stay in constant contact with their state broadband directors and the NTIA so that they could work closely to achieve the goals of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's BEAD program.&nbsp;“Please, please, please take advantage of the opportunities to get this dialogue with your state broadband office and with your NTIA Program Officer,” Feinman told a ballroom-sized audience of rural telephone companies and ISPs attending the <a href="https://www.ntca.org/events-education/events/fall-conference/agenda" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NTCA Fall conference</a> in San Francisco on Monday morning. “We have to hear from you to know what we're doing right and wrong. And don't be shy about sharing. We need to hear from you. We're going to be standing up a lot of different public meetings, really soliciting input a lot of different times in ways."Feinman also said that the NTIA is going to be creating state level broadband coalitions “in every single state of the union.” “And when that opportunity comes, please join that coalition. Lend your voice to this to this group, this chorus that is calling out for state support and local electoral support to make sure that we get this project done. Simple availability of funds on the NTIA level will not ensure program success. We have to see a whole society ever to make this happen. And you all are critical partners.”Feinman said that the NTIA has all of its regional directors in place and that it has hired three quarters of its state directors.&nbsp;“So every single community here, every single person sitting in this room is going to hear from their state broadband office and my staff person in your state. Or you don't, let me know right now, and I'll get right on that. But that's critically necessary. What we have to do to get this right is literally go down to the grassroots level. My team is going to …[go to] every project that's proposed and go to every single county in which there's a project to be constructed across the entire country, all 50 states and six territories. We're gonna throw that map up on an easel, and we're gonna invite the citizens to come and say: “Y'all, this is what we're building. Does this get this done for you?”"&nbsp;He added: “Every single state must have a plan that persuasively argues that it is reaching universal coverage. They must, in the context of that, have engaged all of these new stakeholders, not just once, not just a notice and comment – even if a state has the best notice and comment period in the history of humanity, that's an ‘F Minus’ and they get $0. There must be ongoing continuous collaboration with the folks in this room with community leaders to make sure that we're getting the job done.”&nbsp;He added that the NTIA is still receiving a lot of questions about the BEAD program, such as the need to prove that grant applicants' have the financial wherewithal to complete projects, for example, and how the NTIA will coordinate funding with other broadband programs from other parts of the administration. He said that the NTIA is working hard to address these questions.Feinman made the remarks on Monday morning during a discussion with NTCA's Executive Vice President postgres Romano and the Federal Communication Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau Chief Trent Harkrader.&nbsp;Feinman added during the discussion: “You know, it's a significant undertaking, and that's why we're gonna get all the way down to that community level, that community meeting that I described --down to a couple of locations on a piece of poster board. You know, that's, that's the level of granularity we're gonna have to reach. If we're gonna get internet for every single American.”The panelists also discussed the FCC's mapping efforts. NTCA's CEO Shirley Bloomfield alluded to some of the frustrations providers are experiencing with the process earlier on in the morning during a speech in which she referenced providers who were seeing things like boulders being referenced in the FCC's Fabric map as “broadband serviceable locations.”Congress has charged the FCC with creating more accurate, accountable broadband maps that can be verified by parties other than the current self-reporting process from ISPs. The first version is due to be published sometime in November. The NTIA needs these maps in order to allocate BEAD funding.&nbsp;The panelists acknowledged that the FCC's Fabric map is an iterative project. Giving a sense of scale of information gathering effort, Harkrader said that the NTIA used its outreach specialists to contact more than 3,000 providers to get them to file the required information with the FCC on time.&nbsp;Feinman, for his part, said that the NTIA is going to wait until the FCC's map's quality improves before the agency makes any allocations. The ultimate decision on when to start allocating money will be up to his boss, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson.&nbsp; &nbsp;

The BEAD program director emphasized the NTIA's focus on working with local communities.

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NTIA is creating state level coalitions to push for state support for broadband rollout. BEAD program director emphasizes local coordination

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Jeff Sobotka, who was <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/arizona" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Arizona</a>'s state broadband director for the past three years, announced Friday that he's stepping down and moving to the private sector.&nbsp;<blockquote>"After 3 years of working to bridge the Digital Divide I am resigning my position as State Broadband Director. I am proud of the the results delivered. Broadband projects funded by Governor <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ACoAAABLSWsBiOy05jesihPOjp8s93LRcsp7yNk">Doug Ducey</a> &amp; built by the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/adot/">Arizona Department of Transportation</a> will change rural Arizona forever and add to the Governor's legacy of Securing Arizona's Future.&nbsp;Today, due to an incredible coalition of government, Broadband carriers and non-profit organizations 296,570 Arizona families have affordable <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=broadband&amp;highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A6976570454161465344">#Broadband</a> through the [Affordable Connectivity Program.]&nbsp;The below communities have Broadband projects funded by the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/arizona-commerce-authority/">Arizona Commerce Authority</a>, our federal partners, AZ counties and by capital from our private sector Broadband Carriers.&nbsp;I leave knowing we made a difference and I am grateful to have served the people of Arizona and for the opportunity to work with so many great people around our State.&nbsp; Payson, Bullhead City, Page, Alpine, Concho, Eagar, Greer, Nutrioso, Springerville, St. Johns, Vernon, Douglas, Wilcox, Golden Valley, Chloride, Dolan Springs, Meadview, White Hills, North Kingman, Peach Springs, Oatman, Yucca, South Yucca, Havasu Heights, Lake Havasu City, Kingman, Parker, Bouse, McVay, Vicksburg, Salome, Wenden, Brenda, Quartzsite, Morgantown, Ehrenberg, La Paz Valley, Heber-Overgaard, Coconino County, Safford, Holbrook, Pinetop-Lakeside, Show Low, Snowflake, Taylor, Winslow, Kearny, Patagonia, Ajo, Sycamore Springs, Three Points, Robles Junction, Tohono O'odham&nbsp;Nation, Wickenburg, Surprise, Gila Bend, Yuma, Fortuna Foothills, San Luis, Somerton, Wellton, Arizona City, San Manuel, Black Canyon City, Maricopa, San Manuel, Oracle, Black Canyon City, Congress, Huachuca City, Sun Lakes, SE Sierra Vista, Eloy, Toltec, Desert Hills, Summit View, Rimrock, Paulden, Mayer, Cornville."</blockquote>Sobotka told Broadband.money that he plans to take a break in October and then think about what's next. But it's definitely back to the private sector.&nbsp;Meanwhile, Ernst &amp; Young is working with the state to help develop its five-year broadband development plan that's required by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in order to qualify for <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/arizona" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">its share</a> of the $42.5 billion in federal broadband infrastructure funding.“<a href="https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/person/erin-carr-jordan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Erin Carr-Jordan</a> of Arizona State University and the <a href="https://digitalequityinstitute.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Digital Equity Institute</a> (DEI) are partnering with the State of Arizona to write the State’s Digital Equity Plan,” Sobotka said.&nbsp;Sobotka and his work at the broadband office had many fans. While he received many congratulations on his LinkedIn profile, others were sad to see him leave this very important role.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Arizona's well respected broadband director said that he's stepping away

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Arizona loses its broadband director

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Issues of both digital equity and broadband mapping permeated a Saturday afternoon capstone discussion at TPRC on lessons learned from past federal broadband deployment efforts.The two-day academic conference TPRC, originally the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, is <a href="https://broadband.money/blog/50-years-in-the-quest-to-understand-broadband-deployment" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a major gathering event for academics, policy-makers and industry officials focused on communications and internet policy</a>.&nbsp;The most sizable discussion point at the event was on broadband. At the September 17, 2022, panel session, experts explored how prior deployment efforts will fare under the bipartisan infrastructure law.“There was a lot of elbowing in the vendor community [for mapping over] what terrain was open for bids,” said Sharon Strover, a professor at University of Texas at Austin who was involved in the broadband programs under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.“It was warfare. I have seen that same thing over again” in current discussion of broadband mapping, she said.At least three of the other panelists directly addressed question about mapping, which looms large in discussions surrounding the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.<h3>States have been increasing their capacity for broadband grants</h3>Panelists were not optimistic about the successful deployment of updated broadband maps by the Federal Communications Commission. Those maps will determine in which states BEAD funds are spent.&nbsp;Still, the spirit of the session suggested optimism that the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has learned lessons from past broadband projects.Now, NTIA is running the $42.5 billion BEAD program, which is the largest part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s $65 billion in broadband funding.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/TPRC_panel_8085737044.jpeg"></figure>Moderator Alexis Schrubbe (left), and panelists Johannes Bauer, Sharon&nbsp;Strover, Angela Siefer, Anna Read, Joshua Edmonds, and Francois Bar (left to right)Whether the FCC succeeds or not in its quest for improved maps, state broadband offices will be responsible for implementing the BEAD program, and “states are well positioned” to handle that responsibility, said Anna Reed, who leads the broadband access initiative at the Pew Charitable Trusts.Both immediately prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and because of it, states have been increasing their capacity by creating some form of broadband offices within state government, Reed said.&nbsp;And while some state program had significant broadband funding, until the pandemic the majority of them did not.&nbsp;Federal laws passed in 2020 and 2021 have given the states what they needed — broadband money — to close the gaps among those who lack internet service and the ability to make use of it. “States were never going to have the level of funding to close [the digital divide] at any real speed,” she said.<h3>Digital equity cannot be disentangled from broadband infrastructure</h3>No matter the role of federal and state broadband maps in the deployment of BEAD, one issue that won’t go away is ensuring digital equity.In particular, it is vital that the nation spend federal funds well by ensuring “equitable access to and use of [broadband] technologies,” said Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. She said her group has nearly quadrupled in size since the beginning of the pandemic.As BEAD programs roll out, Siefer encouraged policy-makers, advocates and academics to ensure that they are interacting with bona-fide community members working on digital equity and digital inclusion efforts. She cited the NDIA community’s more than 900 affiliated organizations as a model to look to.And yet broadband infrastructure cannot be separated from the role that is being played in digital inclusion, said Joshua Edmonds,&nbsp;speaking on the panel about Detroit’s work with both&nbsp;broadband infrastructure and broadband adoption and use.“We can’t coupon our way to digital equity,” said Edmonds, who has been at the City of Detroit’s Office of Digital Inclusion and the city’s Connect313. It was announced on September 19, 2022, that <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/c/get-broadband-grant-alerts-news/joshua-edmonds-leaves-connect313-to-join-cleveland-based-nonprofit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Edmonds will become the CEO of Cleveland-based non-profit DigitalC</a>.

At a Telecommunications Policy Research Conference session on lessons learned from past broadband deployments, panelists link role improving infrastructure with digital equity.

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Infrastructure inextricably linked to digital equity and broadband mapping

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Drew Clark

Editor and Publisher

Louisiana's new economic development and planning agency the Louisiana Infrastructure Technical Assistance Corporation (LITAC) will be headed by Leslie Durham, who currently serves as alternate federal co-chairwoman of the <a href="https://dra.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Delta Regional Authority</a>. She will be LITAC's executive director. She begins her new job October 1, 2022.LITAC was jointly created by the <a href="https://www.lma.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Louisiana Municipal Association </a>and the <a href="https://www.lpgov.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Louisiana Police Jury Association</a>.&nbsp;The new organization will provide local governments in the most rural areas of Louisiana with funding to help plan their infrastructure needs.&nbsp;“We're trying to figure out how we can assist the most rural communities get access to federal funds, when they historically miss out, largely because of the lack of funds for planning and grant writing and match money for federal funds,” Durham said in an interview. “We will be providing planning and grant writing support training for grant writers and we have a matching fund that we will be granting to winning communities.”LITAC will provide assistance to local governments for the full spectrum of infrastructure. Broadband access will be one of the categories of infrastructure that local governments can seek help for.&nbsp;The Louisiana state legislature created LITAC this summer. It is a 501-3-c non-profit that can engage in fundraising. The legislature started it off with $25 million.&nbsp;Police Juries in Louisiana are what Louisianans call their county governments.&nbsp;“I have been grateful for Leslie’s passion to serve our region andher guidance in making sure we are meeting the needs of all communities within our region,” said DRA Federal Co-Chairman Dr. Corey Wiggins in a statement.&nbsp;“Leslie’s passion for working on behalf of the Delta region is only trumped by her love for and devotion to the state of Louisiana. Her new role will give her the opportunity to work for the betterment of all rural Louisiana communities as well as create a working model for other states to follow.&nbsp;I am incredibly excited for her new opportunity that will highlight her leadership and tenacity in helping the people of Louisiana.”“It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve as Delta Regional Authority Alternate Federal Co-Chairwoman,” said DRA Alternate Co-Chairwoman Leslie Durham.&nbsp;“Even more so, being the first person from Louisiana and the first woman appointed is a badge I will cherish forever. I leave DRA in the most capable hands of its dedicated staff, with whom I have been working with off and on since 2005, and Federal Co-Chairman Dr. Corey Wiggins.&nbsp;In my new capacity as Executive Director of the Louisiana Infrastructure Technical Assistance Corporation, I will continue to work closely with Dr. Wiggins and his team as we collectively work to bring vital federal assistance to Louisiana’s rural communities.&nbsp;I am most grateful for the support I received from across the footprint since my appointment almost one year ago.&nbsp;I thank you, and I will never forget your love and support for me and our Delta."To learn more about Durham's work and perspectives on successful infrastructure and broadband development, check out our recent interview with her in our <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leslie-durham-alternate-federal-co-chairwoman-for-the/id1638633587?i=1000578061798" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ready or Not podcast</a>. You can also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4htRLK2eK0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">watch the interview on YouTube</a>.&nbsp;

Leslie Durham is the new executive director of the Louisiana Infrastructure Technical Assistance Corporation

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Leslie Durham, the Delta Regional Authority's Alternate Federal Co-Chairwoman, to Head New Agency to Help Local Governments With Infrastructure Planning

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The quest for a better broadband map didn’t begin yesterday.&nbsp;But the combination of an engaged community of academic researchers, and the momentum behind the urgent need to “truth check” the claims of internet service providers brings us to a propitious moment for our country.Beginning on Friday, September 16, 2022, <a href="http://www.tprcweb.com/50th-anniversary-celebration" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TPRC50</a> opens here in Washington, D.C.&nbsp;Officially the <a href="http://www.tprcweb.com/2022-program-overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">50th Annual Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy</a>, TPRC is the “must-attend” gathering of all the broadband and telecommunications geeks. It’s been around since the very foundation of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.In fact, NTIA — which is the executive-branch agency responsible for the administration’s telecom policy — had just formed at the time of the first Telecommunications Policy Research Conference on November 17, 1972.This persistent crowd has been considering telecommunications innovation, public utilities, radio frequency spectrum and media ownership for a half-century now. The <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56a114ff5dc6de6ca8f06129/t/62a7767812b5863a8a173795/1655142009144/TPRC+1972+Program.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first conference program</a> seems refreshingly topical.Besides being a persistent crowd, TPRC’s strength is its inclusive nature. The crowd that attends this academic conference caters equally to industry and to the university and non-profit community.This year - with the rollout of the largest federal funding in broadband infrastructure history - the need for TPRC is urgent and vital.&nbsp;NTIA is leading the charge with an unprecedented amount of $42.5 billion in broadband infrastructure funding for last-mile internet deployment. Participants in the <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband Grants Community</a> should take advantage of this opportunity to bring the passion and the expertise of TPRC to bear on the broadband data and measurement problems that must be solved to successfully role out the <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/infrastructure-investment-jobs-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.</a><h2>How TPRC has traversed the issue of broadband data in the past</h2>My own history with TPRC goes back some time, but not quite 50 years. I began attending TPRC in 2006, and it was at the events in that year, and the years that followed, that I teamed up with my TPRC-ers to launch a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to get access to broadband data.I’ve <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/06/broadband-mapping-coalition-seeks-to-bring-openness-back-to-internet-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">been a strong advocate</a> of the importance of public and open broadband data for more than 15 years. (See <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/02/infrastructure-investment-decisions-need-transparency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“U.S. broadband infrastructure investments need transparency</a>,” ArsTechnica, February 10, 2009.) That op-ed recounts our efforts to obtain FCC Form 477 data in 2006 and 2007, followed by founding BroadbandCensus.com in January 2008 to crowdsource the collection of broadband speed and availability data.The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 opened up even more opportunities for critical thinking about the kinds of broadband data necessary for a national broadband building.&nbsp;The ARRA was the largest federal investment of broadband funds, up until that point. And, at the 2009 TPRC, one of the highlights was an informal session on “<a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2009/09/beer-and-broadband-mapping-at-the-top-telecommunications-policy-conference/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Beer and Broadband Mapping</a>”&nbsp;I had the great pleasure to team up with the now-late Charles Benton, who emphasized this vital principal: Broadband data needs to be publicly available in order to be verified and scrutinized.This issue never seems to die. <a href="http://www.broadband.money" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband.money</a> is working with the <a href="https://broadbandmappingcoalition.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband Mapping Coalition</a>, an arm of the digital equity group <a href="https://www.marconisociety.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Marconi Society</a>, to promote the public’s engagement with the Federal Communications’ Fabric mapping initiative. The goal is to make sure that the process is truly open to public oversight and input as the U.S. Commerce Department implements the largest expenditure of federal broadband funds in history.<h2>What to look for at this year’s TPRC</h2>As is typical, TPRC in 2022 is broken into a half-dozen track or topics, including “Broadband,” “Spectrum, “Digital Economy, “Privacy,” “Internet Inequalities” and others. The “Broadband” segment this year is particularly rich, with nine sessions.With an eye toward those in the Broadband Grants community who are most interested in “Broadband Performance,” Broadband Competition,” and “Broadband Technology and Policy,” I’ve linked to highlight several core sessions.&nbsp;The Broadband.Money team will be focusing our coverage of TPRC this year on these sessions. (But we invite members of the community attending TPRC <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to post</a> as well!)<h2>Broadband Performance</h2>On Friday at 11:05 a.m., David Reed of the University of Colorado at Boulder will moderate a session on core aspects of broadband data, including broadband labels and metrics for broadband access, including a presentation by MIT’s David Clark and MIT’s Sara Wedeman.A follow-up session on the same topic will be moderated by Bob Cannon of NTIA, and will feature research on quality in competition among ISPs, of whether “your mileage my vary” on consumer internet performance, and on crowdsourcing quality of service measurements, on Saturday at 11:05 a.m.<h2>Broadband Competition, Broadband Technology and Policy and COVID</h2>Sessions on these above topics are also critical for members of the TPRC attendees who are part of the Broadband Grants Community.&nbsp;A session on “COVID Impacts on Communication” will highlight broadband infrastructure and school district policies by Kenneth Flamm on Friday at 4:05 p.m.&nbsp;And a discussion of “Best Practices for Collecting Speed Test Data” will be part of a discussion on Saturday at 9 a.m.&nbsp;And don’t miss Technology Policy Institute’s Scott Wallsten’s moderation of a session, also on Saturday at 9 a.m., on “Broadband Technology Policy” that includes a spatial analysis of Wi-Fi locations, delivering affordable and universal broadband and the changing role of internet protocols.<h2>What Broadband.Money and TPRC attendees can should bring to the research table</h2>Broadband.money is joining the discussion this year by bringing you our <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-map/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">research and data visualizations</a> in the form of <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-map/virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">our maps of internet performance and demographics</a>. They show where investment is needed independently and in comparison to the data provided by internet service providers themselves.For an example of how this works, please take a look at <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/c/get-broadband-grant-alerts-news/these-two-organizations-want-to-help-us-agree-on-what-the-digital-divide-really-means-at-stake-billions-in-broadband-grants" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this blog post </a>by Broadband.money’s Director of Digital Community Sarah Lai Stirland — who will also attend this year's conference. Please feel free to stop by and introduce yourself.

The 50th TPRC is the “must-attend” gathering of all the broadband and telecommunications geeks.

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50 years in the quest to understand broadband deployment

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<a href="https://www.tribalcommunicationsllc.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tribal Communications</a>, LLC announces a new partnership with&nbsp;<a href="https://t.sidekickopen13.com/s3t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7kF8cpmFZVlY45G59hl3kW7_k2841CX6NGW36PLjD2Swq72W2PqZkh4_jLv_f197v5Y04?te=W3R5hFj4cm2zwW49KtVq4r5rrL348-2&amp;si=8000000021956085&amp;pi=60d45741-7698-48f0-9bea-fe8d730970e8">Ready.net&nbsp;</a>(Ready) /&nbsp;<a href="https://www.broadband.money">Broadband.money</a>&nbsp;that will expand both companies’ capacity to support broadband, digital equity, and other broadband and telecommunications projects with Tribal Nations, entities, and enterprises.&nbsp;As unprecedented federal funding is deployed across the country, TC and Ready are committed to championing Tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and economic independence by creating robust Tribally-owned and operated broadband services.“Our partnership with Ready.net through Broadband.money allows us to access more technology and expertise for Indian Country,” said Joe Valandra (Sicangu Lakota), Senior Vice President of Tribal Communications.&nbsp;“Together, we are launching a custom Tribal Community Broadband Toolkit that will allow Tribes to establish their own empirical connectivity data and profiles, as well as a Tribal Broadband Community on Broadband.money, an information, communication and resource platform for Tribes.”&nbsp;The partnership is focused on developing and expanding expertise, technology, partners, and opportunities to expand broadband services, network infrastructure, and digital equity in partnership with Tribes. Ready helps broadband professionals connect more people to better services through its cloud-based software and data tools. In addition to its expertise in broadband and planning services, Tribal Communications brings decades of leadership, economic development, and tribal relations experience.&nbsp;“It’s time Tribes everywhere get strong, reliable access to broadband,” said Ready’s Co-Founder and CEO, Jase Wilson. “Tribal Communications has the authentic leadership, experience, and track record to get the job done. We’re excited to help them with our purpose-built tools to help Tribes win their fair share of broadband resources.”Leveraging the data and technology of <a href="https://www.ready.net" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ready</a>’s <a href="https://www.broadband.money" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">broadband.money </a>platform, TC will work with Tribes to streamline processes for broadband grant research, applications, and ongoing reporting &amp; compliance. Given the unique challenges (e.g., capacity and resources) for Tribes to navigate broadband expansion for their reservations, the partnership will provide tools that make funding and planning processes faster, easier, and more accurate by bringing together multiple data sets and workflow tools in an easy-to-use interface.&nbsp;TC’s leadership has been a leading voice and advocate in D.C. and throughout Indian Country. They are working with Tribes and states throughout the country to navigate policy, funding, and the unique challenges that come with expanding broadband services and infrastructure.&nbsp;Tribal Communications, LLC, is a subsidiary of Tribal Solutions Group, LLC, a national company with a long history and successful track record of partnering with Tribes and Tribal enterprises across the United States. Both TC and Ready are committed to being community partners dedicated to closing the digital divide throughout Indian Country. About <a href="https://t.sidekickopen13.com/s3t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7kF8cpmFZVlY45G59hl3kW7_k2841CX6NGW36PLjD2Swq72W2PqZkh4_jLv_f197v5Y04?te=W3R5hFj4cm2zwW4mKLS-4fM_MTW3zd5Rm3_X5XxW3SYLpP3T1MdZW3ZY6lb3Fbt5S0&amp;si=8000000021956085&amp;pi=60d45741-7698-48f0-9bea-fe8d730970e8">Tribal Communications, LLC</a>Tribal Communications champions Tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and economic independence by creating Tribally owned and operated broadband &amp; wireless services. Our mission is to provide world-class consulting services to Tribal nations, entities, and enterprises to help solve the unique challenges of bringing high-speed broadband and wireless services to all of Indian Country.&nbsp;Our vision is to help create digitally connected Tribal communities with limitless opportunities that will strengthen the economic sovereignty of Indian Country.About <a href="https://t.sidekickopen13.com/s3t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7kF8cpmFZVlY45G59hl3kW7_k2841CX6NGW36PLjD2Swq72W2PqZkh4_jLv_f197v5Y04?te=W3R5hFj4cm2zwW49KtVq4r5rrL348-2&amp;si=8000000021956085&amp;pi=60d45741-7698-48f0-9bea-fe8d730970e8">Ready.net, Inc.</a> / <a href="https://t.sidekickopen13.com/s3t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7kF8cpmFZVlY45G59hl3kW7_k2841CX6NGW36PLjD2Swq72W2PqZkh4_jLv_f197v5Y04?te=W3R5hFj4cm2zwW4mKLS-3Cf9cZW3H3Bq63GGZPhf41RkZt04&amp;si=8000000021956085&amp;pi=60d45741-7698-48f0-9bea-fe8d730970e8">Broadband.money </a>Ready makes cloud-based software and data tools built from the ground up to help local broadband providers and local communities win. Ready makes it easy for local ISPs to acquire, retain, and monetize subscribers. Cross-sell premium digital services, like telemedicine and streaming services. Run promotional campaigns. Reward loyal subscribers. Finance network growth. &nbsp;

Partners bring together experience, resources, and relationships to support and position Tribes across the country to expand broadband internet across Indian Country.

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Tribal Communications partners with Ready.net to close the digital divide in Indian country

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Mayors: Is access to strong, affordable broadband for your constituents at the top of your agenda? If not, you might soon miss a one-time opportunity to make your city more competitive.&nbsp; Broadband is now essential. Not everyone gets itYou know strong broadband is now essential for daily life. Access to education, healthcare, and jobs now depend on broadband. For many of your constituents, internet access is inadequate for this new reality, with few, or no real broadband choices in parts of your city. For others, plans are too expensive.&nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><div class="contentPart">
<h2>Help could be on the way, if you act fast</h2>
Right now, America’s gearing up to make its largest – and likely last – major public investment in broadband. Within the broadband provisions of the Infrastructure Investment &amp; Jobs Act (IIJA), your state could get as much as $3 billion to help build next-generation broadband infrastructure.
The largest program – the $42.5 Billion Broadband Equity Access &amp; Deployment (BEAD) program, is designed to fund capital-intensive, modern broadband infrastructure in communities like yours.


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</div></div>&nbsp;Your city could be entitled to hundreds of millions of dollars for broadband projects, depending on:<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>How many <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/unserved-location">unserved</a> and <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/unserved-location">underserved</a> <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-serviceable-locations">serviceable broadband locations</a> you’re able to prove that exist within your city</li><li>Your state’s broadband plan, and to what extent you shape it with empirical data</li></ol>&nbsp;<h3>There is a catch – and it’s up to you to fix it</h3>The way BEAD’s prioritization algorithm works means the money will flow by default away from denser urban areas like your city, since:<ol><li>More eligible providers will self-report adequate service in denser metro areas. It will be harder to prove unserved and underserved locations without defensible, empirical data.</li><li>BEAD prioritizes higher-cost projects. Broadband project cost and population density are usually inversely correlated.&nbsp;</li></ol>This means that, without intervention from you, your city could see very little of this one-time broadband windfall.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h3>How will you ensure your city gets its fair share of BEAD grants?&nbsp;</h3>Luckily – the National Telecommunications &amp; Information Administration (NTIA) architected a nearly perfect solution for you, if you choose to lead it: <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/local-coordination">Local Coordination</a>. This legal requirement obligates your state to consult with you about your local communities' needs before it sends its final financial ask of the federal government – in the form of a state broadband plan. You’ll have tools available to make your case after the plan is submitted, but you’re far better off to be at the table now, with good, defensible data about your city's current broadband need in hand.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h3>When and where to start</h3>Your state’s broadband planning is underway now. There is still time for Mayors like you to orient your response in order to get ready to get your city’s share, but that window is closing.&nbsp; You need to be at the table, equipped with defensible, empirical data about your city’s current broadband reality.&nbsp;You can set the foundation with your city's <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-audit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband Audit</a>, with data through the Community Broadband Kit.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h1><a href="https://broadband.money?src=USCM">Get your city's free Broadband Audit today</a>.</h1><figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/community_broadband_kit_preview_7d25b471ae.png"></figure>Free broadband test for your city to gather empirical proof of broadband need<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/boss_dashboard_preview_06ef3b3e73.png"></figure>Detailed, interactive reports in your Broadband Audit<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Detroit_Community_Kit_2812636379.png"></figure>Geospatial Insights in your city's Broadband Audit<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/image_a6c51de332.png"></figure>Quickly distribute your Broadband Kit to Community Anchor Institutions<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Learn More &amp; Take Action</h3><ol><li><a href="https://broadband.money/community-broadband-kit?src=USCM">Get started on your city’s Broadband Audit</a> through the Community Broadband Kit&nbsp;</li><li>Watch this <a href="https://broadband.money/events/ntia-head-alan-davidsons-keynote-address-mountain-connect-2022">Fireside chat with Alan Davidson</a> , Head of the agency overseeing $50 billion of the $75 billion for broadband in motion now.&nbsp;</li><li>And this <a href="https://broadband.money/lessons/bead-nofo-deep-dive">Recent webinar from Scott Woods, Esq.</a>&nbsp;A former NTIA executive weighs in on unpacking the agency’s $42.5 Billion BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)</li><li>Encourage your staff to join the <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money">Broadband Grants Community</a> of 800+ broadband professionals, introduce yourselves, and post your city’s broadband efforts &amp; requests for help. Learn about broadband funding, deployment planning and technologies and discuss active challenges.</li><li>Want to share your city’s digital inclusion &amp; equity plans with the community? Odds are good that your state director is in the community – it’s a great place to publicly share your city’s broadband vision. Ping <a href="mailto:sarah@ready.net">Sarah Lai Stirland</a> for help.</li><li>Bookmark the <a href="https://broadband.money/resources">Broadband Grants Resource Center</a> – more resources added weekly.</li><li>Contact us for more information – we’re here to help you win.&nbsp;</li></ol>

America's gearing up to make its largest – and almost certainly last – investment in broadband. By default, most of that money is set to flow away from urban areas. Mayors can and should get their share to connect constituents.

Mayors can and should play a critical role in directing America's largest ever public investment in broadband – but must take action now with Broadband Audit.

Mayors: Get Your City's Share of Billions for Broadband

America's largest broadband investment flows away from cities. Mayors can and must act.

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Mayors: How to Get Your City's Share of Broadband Grants

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Mayors: Don't Miss Your City's Share of Billions for Broadband

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Jase Wilson

<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe src="https://pitch.com/public/0b5632e7-def1-4d8b-9bc1-7cd2a02fa792/e273308a-0904-4c8a-91f6-d827b1786e9c" allow="fullscreen" class="pitch" width="720" height="480"></iframe></div>Broadband.money is working to help local communities to win and defend their share of broadband grant funding.Pioneering local broadband champions – like those in the city of Detroit — get their own <a href="http://detroitspeed.broadband.money/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Community Broadband Kit</a> to collect on-the-ground broadband performance tests and survey data, so that they can determine their own broadband needs and present them in empirical form to broadband grant makers and service providers.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Detroit_Community_Kit_4b79c92889.png"></figure>Broadband.money’s Community Broadband Kit contains a built-in messaging system with a custom-branded template to invite individuals and community anchor institutions to participate. It also contains instructions with tips and guidance for getting the test in front of communities.The kit was inspired by a presentation conducted this May during the Mountain Connect conference, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79G1uR0u57c" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a talk </a>given this past June by a MLab’s Project Director Lai-Yi Ohlsen and the Marconi Society’s National Broadband Mapping Coalition Program Manager Dustin Loup.The session was about how local communities can most effectively measure and map broadband availability and coverage in their areas. The duo <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EUjbdDxsMy2azZK_f48qF7K9V3ta2r0Ac7iOWvA66Y4/edit">recommended</a> and provided useful guidance including the recommendation to include multiple tests in performance tests in order to get a more comprehensive view of an area’s connectivity, since the different tests use different methodologies. This <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vLl24JtINLXOL_KY8aZRmNH8jlNfE2gNHUhUuTKgW8Y/edit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">document</a> provides further details of their recommendations, as well as recommendations from the Broadband Mapping Coalition. Broadband.money’s Broadband Community Kit has incorporated these recommendations.Ohlsen and Loup’s performance and survey test recommendations are being built into an open-source broadband performance test that can be widely distributed online and adopted by thousands of communities and regional and local providers across the country to generate the empirical data they need to win and defend their broadband grants against incumbent telecom providers making bogus claims a about areas that they already serve, but in fact don’t.One of the flagship locations that demonstrates this constant battle is the city of Detroit, where <a href="https://www.bridgedetroit.com/detroits-plan-for-equal-internet-access-starts-with-hope-village/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than a quarter of residents </a>don’t have access to high-speed broadband, and <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/detroit-bridges-internet-access-digital-divide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">70 percent of school age children don’t have broadband at home</a>. A lawsuit was also filed against an incumbent carrier in 2017 accusing it of <a href="https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/features/the-broadband-gaps-dirty-secret-redlining-still-exists-in-digital-form/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">digital redlining</a> after an academic published a study showing that the carrier hadn’t made significant investments in its networks in census blocks with poverty rates above 35 percent. The carrier denied that it ignores high poverty areas.More recently, thousands of Detroiters suffered from a 45 day internet outage from a commercial provider during the height of the pandemic last year. (You can hear more about that in the podcast episode below. It is also downloadable through <a href="<iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/qLpBdWMdM9s&quot; title=&quot;YouTube video player&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allow=&quot;accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture&quot; allowfullscreen></iframe>" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="<iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/qLpBdWMdM9s&quot; title=&quot;YouTube video player&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allow=&quot;accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture&quot; allowfullscreen></iframe>" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a0f3b57a-4999-4372-9071-9d2ed1caa324/ready-or-not-with-scott-d-woods-esq?refMarker=null" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Amazon</a>, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.)<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qLpBdWMdM9s" title="YouTube video player" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></div>Now Detroiters will be able to use our <a href="http://detroitspeed.broadband.money">Broadband Community Kit</a> to conduct a <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-audit">broadband audit</a> to demonstrate their level of need.A broadband audit is a statistically valid survey of a census block or other local geographic areas defined by state grant making authorities for <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband">broadband</a> availability.The survey would consist of internet performance measurements undertaken multiple times a day under varying network traffic conditions, but under established parameters, such as the distances packets of data have to travel between specified servers.Performance, as defined by the <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr3684/text">Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act</a>, includes measurements of upload and download speeds and latency.Local communities and providers can dispute their state broadband office’s broadband connectivity profiles of their communities with challenges backed up by their broadband audits.The Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act requires each state and territory to conduct a challenge process before they can be given their allotted funding as determined by an IIJA formula.That process enables local governments, nonprofit organizations, or providers to challenge state and territories’ determinations of local areas’ connectivity and grant funding needs as defined by number of locations that are unserved and underserved in their IIJA BEAD grant funding application to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The worry is that states may undercount the number of locations needing grant funding because of exaggerated coverage claims by incumbent providers, or because of other faulty data. &nbsp;The IIJA determines that locations are unserved if they have connections that can only manage speeds of less than 25/3 Mbps upload/download. Underserved areas are those locations that have connections that offer speeds of less than 100/20 Mbps.The Community Broadband Kit is in beta and will be launched for public use mid September, ahead of the eligibility and challenge processes.

Broadband.money is working to help local communities win and defend their share of broadband grant funding. 

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Detroit residents to conduct their own broadband audit after historic outage

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Montana's rescue plan funding commission is going back to the drawing board after its proposal to award nearly half of rescue plan funds to a telecom incumbent drew sharp criticism from local broadband providers.Montana’s ARPA Communications Advisory Commission announced Monday that it would go back over <a href="https://connectmt.mt.gov/awards/preliminary-rankings">the initial rankings</a> of the 75 project planners that applied for the broadband grant funding.“At the end of the day, our job is to make sure that we do what’s best for Montana,” said Commission Chair Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton.The decision came after a damning report in the <a href="https://montanafreepress.org/2022/08/12/258-million-montana-broadband-grant-plan-draws-debate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Montana Free Press</a> and criticisms from local providers after the commission proposed awarding almost half of its $260 million American Rescue Plan Act broadband grant funding to Charter Communications. &nbsp;The Montana Free Press reports:<blockquote>The <a href="https://connectmt.mt.gov/awards/ConnectMT---Preliminary-Application-Recommendation-Summaries---20220803.pdf">initial grant ranking</a>, prepared by the Department of Administration and consultants at CTC Technology and Energy, <a href="https://connectmt.mt.gov/awards/ConnectMT-Application-and-Allocation-Metrics---20220803.pdf">recommended funding</a> 47 broadband projects proposed by 14 different companies. If completed, those projects would expand high-speed internet access to an estimated 41,000 homes and businesses across Montana.&nbsp;</blockquote>It also reports that Charter spent more than double the amount of money that the trade group for local providers did:<blockquote>Both Charter and the Montana Telecommunications Association lobbied extensively during last year’s legislative session as lawmakers drafted the bills that defined the parameters of the Connect MT program. Lobbying disclosure records indicate Charter retained five lobbyists and spent a total of $87,000 trying to advance its agenda on topics including the Connect MT legislation. The telecommunications association, represented by Feiss, reported spending about $42,000.</blockquote>For more information about winning broadband grants in Montana, and the potential grant amounts available to to grant applicants planning to apply for grants coming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) provisions, visit Broadband.money's <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/montana" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Montana BEAD grant funding</a> profile page. The page offers estimated available amounts of money available for Montana broadband grant-funded projects, investment maps, and an <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-map/montana" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">interactive BEAD grant funding portal</a> with demographic data, broadband availability status, and more. &nbsp;&nbsp;

A volley of criticism from local providers has caused Montana’s ARPA broadband commission to reconsider its proposed award of the bulk of rescue funding to Charter Communications

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Montana ARPA commission reconsiders initial broadband grant award proposal

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Maine has been one of the states that has a well-established broadband grant program, and it's well positioned to land and defend its share of federal broadband grant funding.Maine's Connectivity Authority has made sure that it coordinates closely with local communities so that it has its ears to the ground in terms of their broadband needs.&nbsp;So it's not surprising that it is encouraging its residents to take broadband speed tests to help figure out local communities' needsIt's also not a big surprise that there are a lot of big dates coming up for the Maine broadband grants community. Check out the list below:Program: Connect the ReadyMaine Connectivity Authority hosted an engagement session on August 15.<a href="https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/play/Bga3skQlkgti1dZ4TL6nmM-ZtC7_avreHrAnkxiCuTA12iMB-7U0kIgC3lCt0R8uSQLWINsmyt8WvjWZ.HKkCiFNFT9qjawwb?continueMode=true"> There is a recording online</a> if you missed it.On September 23, they will release Connect the Ready’s program guidance.&nbsp;On October 10, the application window for Connect Ready will open.On October 14, there will be a webinar applicants can access to help them navigate the Connect the Ready application process.The application deadline is November 9, at 11:59 pm.Program: Reach Me Line Extension IncentivesMaine Connectivity Authority hosted an engagement session on August 10.<a href="https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/play/VkzW_qiwRA5FLnyYFq5XlQOsBYjFNSutHYH5CpuQ3N9wgTnWK2A_A-rXXEC8yZjMDXoFp4VaDzs3sYcv.RvdCC3Go_8E0gm4T?startTime=1660147320000"> There is a recording online</a> if you missed it.&nbsp;On October 10, the application window for Reach Me Line Extension Incentives will open.On October 21, there will be a webinar applicants can access to help them navigate the Reach Me Line Extension Incentives application process.On October 31, the request for quotes deadline will close at 11:59 pm.Applicants’ proposals will be due on December 2 at 11:59 pm.&nbsp;Also,<a href="https://www.fcc.gov/affordable-connectivity-program-providers#Maine"> check out the FCC’s website</a> to learn more about Affordable Connectivity Program-qualified ISPs in Maine.&nbsp;Broadband.money will be offering providers a <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/affordable-connectivity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Turnkey ACP</a> option in upcoming months.&nbsp;For more information on Maine’s broadband efforts, checkout Broadband.Money’s<a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-map/maine"> Maine Broadband Grant Portal</a>.You cannot miss these dates if you want to stand a chance at challenging incumbents in your area. Use every tool available to you, including Broadband.Money’s<a href="https://broadband.money/community-broadband-kit"> Community Broadband Kit</a>.&nbsp;

Don't miss any of Maine's broadband grant key deadlines

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Here are the key dates for Maine broadband grant opportunities

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Fewer than a third of the households in <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/hawaii" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hawaii</a> are signed up for the Federal Communications Commission's Affordable Connectivity Program, according to Burt Lum, the state's chief broadband strategy officer.&nbsp;About &nbsp;29,000 households have signed up for the program, which provides a monthly $30 subsidy to qualifying households for internet access. The award doubles for families on Hawaiian home lands. They can receive a $75 discount each month.“I was looking at how many families receive free or reduced lunch or SNAP benefits, and that’s close to a hundred thousand,” Lum told the Honolulu Star Advertiser in a <a href="https://www.staradvertiser.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recent article</a>.&nbsp;Those are the households that are eligible to receive the benefit. Residents can also qualify if they benefit from Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Supplemental Security Income, federal public housing assistance, free and reduced-price school breakfast or lunch, the Pell Grant or if their household income is less than 200% of the federal poverty line. The program also grants a one-time $100 discount for purchasing a laptop, desktop or tablet.To see the full list of ACP eligibility details and participating Hawaii internet service providers, visit <a href="http://broadband.hawaii.gov/acp/.">http://broadband.hawaii.gov/acp/.</a>One of the big, yet little-discussed, issues hindering broader enrollment is the extensive administrative burden that internet service providers and their customers face when trying to enroll in the program. The process involves several steps that require households to navigate procedures both through the federal government and then at the provider itself. Then billing agents at providers have a whole other procedure to implement in order to register ACP participants.&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money">Broadband.money</a> is working on a Turnkey ACP option that would enable internet service providers to seamlessly offer ACP subsidies to eligible subscribers.&nbsp; The goal is to reduce the administrative burden both on subscribers and provider staff when integrating the ACP benefit into subscription plans.&nbsp; &nbsp;The FCC recently launched a grant program that would help local officials boost their ACP outreach programs.&nbsp;Households looking to sign up for the discounts can go to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/getinternet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Get the Internet.&nbsp;</a>

Only about 29,000 households are signed up for the FCC's ACP program

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Fewer than a third of eligible households have signed up for the Affordable Connectivity Program in Hawaii, says broadband strategy officer

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The agency responsible for dispensing billions in broadband grants and the Bureau of Indian Affairs <a href="https://www.bia.gov/news/ntia-and-bia-sign-agreement-streamline-environmental-permitting-high-speed-internet-projects" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced this week </a>that they're working to speed broadband deployments along on tribal territories by working to co-ordinate environmental and conservation compliance efforts with a tribal grant program. The agreement ensures that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration coordinates its grant making activities under its Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) with the environmental, historic preservation, and cultural resources requirements related to tribal communities.&nbsp;The agreement aims to streamline National Environmental Policy Act reviews, as authorized to grant rights-of-way over and across land held in trust or restricted status by the United States under the Indian Right-of-Way Act.“Tribal communities are long overdue to gain access to life-saving technologies, economic and educational opportunities, and countless other benefits of high-speed internet,” said Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Alan Davidson. “We are streamlining and creating efficiencies within the Federal Government to ensure Tribal communities get the resources they need quickly to close the digital divide on Tribal lands.”“This agreement will advance our work to connect people in Tribal communities with high-speed internet, while ensuring the preservation of environmental, historic, and cultural resources,” said Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland. “The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program will expand opportunities for people to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives in their Tribal communities.”&nbsp;

NTIA and BIA announced this week that they're working together to speed up broadband deployment 

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NTIA strikes deal with Bureau of Indian Affairs to reduce red tape

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Alaska is one of America's last frontiers in many ways. Broadband deployment is no exception.&nbsp;The vast state of 665,400 square miles is in dire need of better broadband, and it stands to leap ahead if state broadband leaders are able to win the appropriate amount of BEAD grants. The state published <a href="https://connectednation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CN_ALASKA_BB_PLAN_12-2019_07_FINAL-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this broadband report</a> last year to outline its needs.&nbsp;In in addition to Treasury and <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-guides/getting-ready-for-bead" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BEAD grants</a>, the state's 229 tribes are also eligible for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's <a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/resources/grant-programs/tribal-broadband-connectivity-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program</a> (NTCP.) &nbsp;But the needed amount of funding can only come if broadband builders use accurate maps that can tell them where the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's BEAD grant money should go.&nbsp;That's why Alaska's Republican senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan are pushing the Federal Communications Commission to get its much-touted Fabric map right when they publish them this fall. The IIJA directs the NTIA to dispense broadband funding to state applicants according to a formula based on data from that map, which in turn is based on broadband coverage data submitted by internet service providers.&nbsp;They reiterated <a href="https://communicationsdaily.com/news/2022/08/10/Murkowski-Sullivan-Raise-Broadband-Map-Concerns-in-Alaska-2208090049" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">their concerns</a> this week at a broadband summit held in Fairbanks, Alaska this week, according to the trade publication Communications Daily.&nbsp;The publication reports that their statements "followed state officials raising concerns about holes in the FCC’s broadband serviceable location fabric to be used in upcoming maps.&nbsp;State, local, tribal and federal officials stressed the need for engagement and collaboration to ensure funding goes where it’s needed."This <a href="https://www.adn.com/business-economy/2022/08/09/alaska-ramps-up-effort-to-land-billions-in-federal-funding-to-close-digital-divide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Alaska Daily News story</a> quotes the Alaska Federation of Natives' Executive Vice President Nicole Borromeo acknowledging that “there will be a lot of competition for the money nationally.”&nbsp; &nbsp;<blockquote>“We want to see every penny we can up in Alaska,” Borromeo said, part of a panel during the summit that discussed tribal opportunities. “It’s a bit of a David and Goliath story. The only way we get to be Goliath is by working together.”</blockquote>But the state currently seems to<a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/2ef805eb0e2746598c3ed0638388de16" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> rely on that FCC data</a> to map its broadband needs.&nbsp;State, local and tribal officials, and local ISPs could all work together to figure out the <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/alaska" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">real amounts</a> that the state and tribal territories are due from the NTIA by using <a href="http://broadband.money" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband.money</a>'s <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-map/alaska" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">broadband performance maps</a> and forthcoming community <a href="https://twitter.com/jase/status/1558127104105086977/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">broadband performance test toolkit</a>.&nbsp;

Alaska's congressional leaders are worried about the accuracy of the FCC's broadband maps. 

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Alaska leaders worry about broadband maps

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Three years ago, the $45 billion state Rebuild Illinois law directed $420 million alone towards broadband expansion. Under Gov. J.B. Pritzker,&nbsp;the state established its Office of Broadband – a continuation of prior state broadband efforts under former Gov. Pat Quinn&nbsp;– and launched its state program to put these funds in use.Illinois is benefitting from its foresight. Several projects from the first round of the the state’s Broadband Grant Program have concluded. Others are underway, or providing services in the state. The Office of Broadband is also growing in capacity and collaboration with stakeholders across the state.Because of these ventures, Illinois officials believe they are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the federal funding coming down the pipeline from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will provide $42.5 billion for broadband infrastructure.&nbsp;First, the state broadband office will deploy planning dollars to engage stakeholders across Illinois. Then, the office will direct the investments to expand broadband access in unserved and underserved areas.&nbsp;Illinois’ Office of Broadband recently posted a new request for information soliciting feedback from applicants to the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s $1 billion Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program. The state broadband office will use the request for information to help align applications, ensure quality, and position the state to make the most of the funding opportunity.&nbsp;

Illinois is benefitting from its foresight in passing the 2019 Rebuild Illinois law, directing $420 million towards broadband expansion.

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Illinois well-positioned to take advantage of federal broadband funding

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Tera Whipple

Reporter

All states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia must submit detailed project and budget narratives to the Biden administration by August 15th if they're planning to apply for BEAD grants.The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has made <a href="https://www.internet4all.gov/program/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-bead-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a packet </a>with detailed instructions available to state and territory level broadband offices.&nbsp;Here's the basic checklist of documents required:&nbsp;<ul><li>Project Narrative</li><li>SF 424 (Application for Federal Assistance)</li><li>SF 424C (Budget Information – Construction Programs)</li><li>Detailed Budget Justification</li><li>Budget Narrative</li><li>Negotiated Indirect Cost rate Agreement – as applicable</li><li>CD-511 (certification of lobbying activities)</li><li>SF-LLL (disclosure of lobbying activities) as applicable</li><li>SAM.gov registration</li></ul>The Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act (IIJA,) otherwise known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, made a total of $65 billion available to close the digital divide. The grant program is known as the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment grant program. It also includes funds for digital equity, which the NTIA expects grant recipients to use concurrently as they plan for new broadband networks to <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/unserved-location" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unserved</a> and <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/underserved-location" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">underserved</a> locations.States can apply for an initial $5 million, which they can use over five years, to do their broadband planning. Territories and D.C., have access to $1.25 million.&nbsp;Instructions from the NTIA state that applicants should indicate who they're working with in the form of partners and subrecipients, and that project summaries should outline “how the project will advance the objectives of the BEAD program as well as specific objectives outlined in the NOFO for Initial Planning Funds and Five-Year Action Plan.”Applicants must also provide high-level financial figures and budget information, and limit their summaries to 1,000 words. &nbsp;Below are a list of eligible costs that can be incurred for BEAD funds used for broadband planning. The table came from the NTIA's planning documents.&nbsp; &nbsp;<figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td><figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Administration and Legal Expenses</td><td><ul><li>Publications, outreach and communications support</li><li>Establishing, operating and increasing capacity of a broadband office that oversees broadband programs and broadband deployment in an eligible entity</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Reasonable post-NOFO pre-award expenses in an amount not to exceed $100,000 relating to the preparation of program submissions to the NTIA (such as a Letter of Intent) or adding additional capacity to state or territorial broadband offices in preparation for the BEAD program may be re-imbursed if they are incurred after the publication of the NOFO and prior to the issuance of the grant reward from the NTIA, except that lobbying costs and contingency fees are not reimbursable from grant funds.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Other architectural and engineering fees</td><td><ul><li>Asset mapping across the eligible entity to catalogue broadband adoption, affordability, equity, access and deployment activities occurring within the eligible entity</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Conducting surveys of unserved, underserved and underrepresented communities to better understand barriers to adoption</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Miscellaneous</td><td><ul><li>Research and data collection including initial identification of unserved locations and underserved locations</li><li>The development of a preliminary budget for pre-planning activities</li><li>Providing technical assistance to potential subgrantees, including through workshops and events</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Training for employees of the &nbsp;broadband program or office of the eligible entity or employees or political subdivisions of the eligible entity, and related staffing capacity or consulting or contracted support to effectuate the goals of the BEAD Program</li><li>Other uses approved in advance writing by the Assistant Secretary (including in response to an eligible entity's request) that support goals of the program.</li><li>Other uses approved in advance writing by the Assistant Secretary (including in response to an Eligible Entity's request) that support the goals of the program.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></figure></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>The NTIA also provides examples of what a budget narrative would look like, as well as other planning templates.&nbsp; Fund recipients have 270 days, or about 9 months after they receive the grants to provide the NTIA with a 5-year action plan. For more detail on this, <a href="https://broadband.money/ntia-bead-nofo/program-structure-sequencing-and-requirements" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">refer to </a>Broadband.money's Annotated Guide to the BEAD NOFO.&nbsp; Broadband.money provides detailed <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-grant-portals" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">broadband availability maps</a> of served, unserved, underserved, and related categories of "likely underserved," and “arguably underserved" areas. For more detailed explanations of how we do this, read “<a href="https://broadband.money/blog/why-ready-speed-rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Why Ready Speed Rank</a>,” "<a href="https://broadband.money/lessons/how-to-measure-broadband-performance" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How Ready Speed Rank Works</a>," and see how the maps <a href="https://broadband.money/lessons/how-to-create-a-project-area" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">can be used </a>to create "project areas."Check <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-grant-portals" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">them out</a>, and <a href="https://broadband.money/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">contact us</a> for more information. &nbsp;

State broadband offices must submit their BEAD initial planning funds applications by August 15 

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Applying for BEAD initial planning funds? Here's what state broadband offices need to do

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Broadband providers submitting coverage information to the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Data Collection database will be required to submit information on how they obtained the coverage information.That’s according to an FCC webinar on Tuesday, July 26, 2022.&nbsp;Governmental and third-party entities must provide information on the methodologies they used to collect, organize, and verify the data as well as the entities they collaborated with in the process.All providers must submit information on how they generated the availability data for each technology involved in the submissions. Included should be the distance from the aggregation point for each technology and the relationship between the entity and any other firm involved.Fixed wireless broadband availability data will require additional information including propagation modeling information, base station location and height, base station carriers, budget parameters, and clutter category data.Facilities-based fixed providers may report data by location list or coverage polygons representing the availability of the provider’s service through the acceptable formats. Mobile broadband providersFilers will also be required to submit the maximum download and upload speeds associated with the service offered to each location. <a href="https://help.bdc.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/articles/6047589372059-Video-Resources">Video training</a> for completing the FCC’s BDC can be found at the FCC website.The FCC opened its new system to collect broadband service information from more than 2,500 broadband providers in June, marking the start of its efforts to establish new maps. Following the completion of the maps, government entities and internet service providers will be given a challenge window where availability claims may be challenged based on submitted data.

Governmental and third-party entities must provide information on the methodologies they used to collect, organize, and verify the data as well as the entities they collaborated with in the process.

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Sources of broadband coverage information will be required by FCC

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul's administration needs to "ensure that future state-funded projects are based on accurate broadband availability data," and that it should fund technologies that actually do provide high-speed, reliable internet service, because it hasn't been doing so despite millions of dollars in funding.That's according to a little-noted <a href="https://www.osc.state.ny.us/state-agencies/audits/2022/07/01/new-ny-broadband-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">audit </a>published earlier this month by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.&nbsp;“The New NY Broadband Program did not meet its goal to close the internet gap because of poor planning and execution,” DiNapoli said in a press release. “As my office’s audit found, the program took years longer than promised and supplied many communities with slow, satellite-based internet that is inadequate for today’s needs. The state is now embarking on another effort to provide all New Yorkers with broadband access called ConnectALL and it is my hope it learns from the issues we found in this audit so they are not repeated.”DiNapoli’s audit recommended that ESD and BPO:<ul><li>Work with ISPs to complete outstanding projects as soon as possible;</li><li>Use a disclaimer when reporting the percentage of broadband availability in the state to reflect limitations in the data’s accuracy; and</li><li>Ensure that future state-funded projects are based on accurate broadband availability data; and that technologies that provide high-speed, reliable internet are used.</li></ul>National Public Radio affiliate WBFO recently <a href="https://www.wbfo.org/2022-07-18/new-yorks-broadband-program-to-provide-service-across-the-state-is-behind-schedule-uses-an-inaccurate-tool-to-monitor-how-well-its-doing-and-is-getting-another-billion-dollars?utm_source=sendgrid&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Newsletters&amp;mc_cid=4a875cd440&amp;mc_eid=f63cc288fd" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">highlighted</a> the report and spoke with two county leaders whose geographies have been impacted by the faulty data and technology decisions. Those are Orleans County and Chautauqua counties.&nbsp;<blockquote>Chautauqua County Executive P.J. Wendel has a particularly choice words for the FCC's Form 477 data: “You gotta get sick and tired of fighting those, 'Yeah, well these are our numbers and we stand by them'" Wendel said. "Yeah, you can balance an elephant on a quarter, too, but that doesn't necessarily mean it could happen. Physics can tell you that.”</blockquote>Hochul's administration disagreed with DiNapoli's characterizations of its funding program so far. Felisa Hochheiser, New York's Director of Compliance for its economic development authority Empire State Development, said that satellite tech was only funded in areas where fiber deployment was prohibitively high and couldn't be provided at an affordable rate.&nbsp;And Empire State Development's Broadband Program Office has established a new broadband mapping and data collection program and is investing significant new resources in wireline rural broadband deployment, she wrote <a href="https://www.osc.state.ny.us/files/state-agencies/audits/pdf/sga-2022-20s19.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in a response</a> included in the audit. The BPO realized that the Federal Communications Commission's Form 477 data is faulty, she wrote.&nbsp;The comptroller's findings are concerning because Hochul announced that the state is putting another billion dollars into broadband funding this year under its <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-new-1-billion-connectall-initiative-bring-affordable-broadband" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ConnectALL initiative</a>. Her administration has come under fire for violating the Governor's promise for more transparency than her predecessor Governor Andrew Cuomo, who first announced a $500 million broadband initiative several years ago. Projects from that initiative are way behind and remain unfinished, DiNapoli's report noted.Broadband.money <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">projects </a>that New York State could receive another $672.8 to $756.4 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's BEAD program.Perhaps ESD's BPO (or even the counties) should look into using <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-map/new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband.money's New York State broadband coverage map</a>, which use Ookla and MLab speed data and compares it with the FCC's form 477 data to illustrate where areas are <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/unserved-location" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unserved</a> and <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/underserved-location" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">underserved</a> as defined by IIJA's BEAD broadband grant program.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Orleans_County_New_York_min_d4915a14fb.png"></figure>The map above, for example, shows this data comparison within a census block within Orleans, one of the counties named within the NPR affiliate story. It's also worth noting here that the IIJA's BEAD program <a href="https://broadband.money/ntia-bead-nofo/program-description" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">allows local entities</a> to challenge a state's planned funding allocations if they use their own verified data.&nbsp;

New York State needs to improve the way it administers broadband grants, according to a new audit from the state comptroller's office. 

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New York State needs better broadband data, says comptroller

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The Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development’s Office of Broadband announced on July 20, 2022, that it has partnered with the Rasmuson Foundation to administer the Digital Equity Planning Grant over the next 10 months.The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorizes $65 billion in public investment to improve broadband access and deployment throughout the country. This funding includes $2.6 billion to implement the Digital Equity Act Grants. These grants are designed to help states improve digital inclusion and equity within historically underserved communities and populations.&nbsp;Alaska expects to receive an initial $567,000 grant to prepare Alaska’s digital equity plan. The plan will identify existing barriers to broadband access, outline potential solutions to eliminating them, and will establish the foundation for supplemental federal funding to build Alaska’s broadband capacity and improve digital equity."Access to broadband for all Alaskans has been a priority of my administration," said&nbsp;Gov. postgres Dunleavy said in a statement. "Digital equity means unprecedented access for our residents to work, learn, and receive health care, even in the most remote areas of the state."The Office of Broadband has partnered with the Rasmuson Foundation to assist in the development of the state’s digital equity plan. Operating as the state’s designated administering entity, it is expected that the foundation will manage a number of activities to include conducting stakeholder outreach, holding statewide listening sessions, and facilitating the data collection required to develop a comprehensive plan.The Rasmuson Foundation’s “willingness to serve as the administering entity preserves the eligibility of Tribal, municipal, and other non-profit entities to receive funding through upcoming Digital Equity Capacity and Competitive grant programs,” said Julie Sande,&nbsp;commissioner of the state’s Department of Commerce.The Rasmuson Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to promote a better life for Alaskans, has agreed to supplement these federally funded efforts with additional foundation staff and financial resources, allowing 100 percent of the state’s planning grant to go towards public outreach and stakeholder activities, according to Sande.“Numerous Alaska communities face prohibitive broadband costs or lagging speeds which results in a meaningful or complete lack of access to tools broadly taken for granted elsewhere,” said&nbsp;Rasmuson Foundation CEO Diane Kaplan. “Impaired broadband access relates to so many core Rasmuson Foundation grantmaking areas like healthcare, economic development, arts, culture, and education.”&nbsp;Other significant partners in this broadband planning effort include the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), Tribal entities, the Alaska Municipal League, local governments and representative non-profit organizations across Alaska.<a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/alaska" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Alaska has historically been held back</a> by its 600,000 square-mile size, sparse population, rugged terrain and weather. That has led it to use wireless technologies outside of urban areas for connectivity, including microwave and satellites.&nbsp;But the state's 2021 broadband report was bullish on the new infusion of federal money, including from the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which passed in November 2021. That report said that a "generational infusion of resources" made it "possible to build terrestrial middle and last-mile capacity to places never before considered feasible.""Fiber-optic cables are considered by the task force to be the gold standard middle-mile solution," the report said, adding other technologies are still in the mix. "As such, it should be deployed wherever feasible."

The Rasmuson Foundation's involvement will allow 100 percent of the state’s planning grant to go towards public outreach and stakeholder activities.

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Alaska Commerce Department partners with non-profit foundation to administer state’s Digital Equity Planning Grant

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Great news last week: all 50 states and 5 territories and the District of Columbia announced their intention to <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/c/get-broadband-grant-alerts-news/all-50-states-territories-and-d-c-join-broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">come on board for Access for All.</a> This means it’s Go Time for local providers and communities preparing to get their share of the historic program.On behalf of the Broadband.money and Ready teams, we are thankful you are undertaking the quest to help end the digital divide once and for all. Enrollment is now open for local providers intending to pursue <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BEAD</a> grants.Our goal is to make the process of applying for <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BEAD</a> grants as easy as possible. We've done that in several ways: helping you to learn, providing you with data and maps, as well as access to experts and a community.We built Broadband.money for local providers and the communities you serve to get the lion’s share of our nation’s largest-ever historic investment in broadband. We believe you are better qualified than national incumbents to get the job done, even if you might not have on-hand the array of resources you will need in order to get your share.You have the grit and genuine desire to get the job done. With the right resources in hand, you can get it done.To get your share of <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BEAD</a>, you’ll need:<ul><li>Deep expertise in broadband grants, GIS, and community relations</li><li>At least 25% of the amount you’re applying to win – with documented proof up front</li><li>Tools for advanced geospatial analysis across complex data sets, and empirical data analysis</li><li>Hundreds of hours to build each of your project applications separately</li></ul>With Broadband.money, you get a partner and platform with:<ul><li>Built-in tools and resources to help you navigate grants, data, and effective community engagement</li><li>A common foundation – build one or more project applications from a single set of inputs</li><li>A collaborative platform – invite your consultants and other stakeholders to manage specific parts of your application journey</li><li>A lot of your time back – you’re busy connecting families and businesses to broadband</li><li>An easy way to apply once for matching funds from a variety of sources, including <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/common-equity-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">equity</a>, <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/debt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">debt</a>, and <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/letter-of-credit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">letter of credit providers</a></li><li>A community of broadband pros who want to help you win</li><li>Loads of other time-saving resources including office hours with former NTIA execs, <a href="https://broadband.money/ntia-bead-nofo/notice-of-funding-opportunity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">annotated guides</a>, and more</li></ul><h2>What’s inside?</h2><h3>1. An A to Z Curriculum: Guides, Lessons &amp; Templates</h3>Broadband.money is <a href="https://broadband.money/start-broadband-grant-application" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">curriculum-based</a>, so you can work through your journey on your terms according to your timeline, at your pace. This way, you can work in logical units over the coming months in accordance with the requirements of the grant programs.<ul><li><a href="https://broadband.money/start-broadband-grant-application" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Guides</a> walk you through the questions needed in order to build your most effective broadband grant project proposals, and get you oriented for the next steps in your journey, such as partnering with great communities and lining up matching fund sources.</li><li><a href="https://broadband.money/lessons/bead-nofo-deep-dive" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lessons</a> go into more detail about specific topics and themes you’ll need to know about in order to reach your full project proposal potential. This way, you’ll have the knowledge you need to answer questions with confidence.</li><li>Templates assist you in composing responses to structured inputs, such as <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BEAD</a> grant pro forma, and more.</li></ul>Together, these building blocks will help you compose your best IIJA broadband grant project proposals starting with the groundwork for <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BEAD</a>.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/what_s_inside_1_82fa8ae1d9.png"></figure><figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/rsz_1whats_inside_2_5ac6b498bc.png"></figure><h3>2. Powerful, Easy-to-Use Geospatial Tools</h3>Get to know your territory and areas of interest in an all-new light. Quickly build up your understanding of the areas for which you might apply. Get filterable address-level insights and multiple points of view on current service, competition, and socio-demographics – all in a single place. Best of all, you can import and export to popular formats so you can use your existing geo tools.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/power_easy_to_use_geospatial_tools_min_ff006db948.png"></figure><h3>3. Dashboard + Area Analysis</h3>Track your journey to win broadband grants with a dashboard overview, and get into detail about areas of interest you’re looking to take on – months ahead before the <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/federal-communications-commission" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Federal Communications Commission</a> publishes its own national map known as the “Fabric.” Stay informed with community events, industry updates and more.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/dashboard_area_analysis_7c7ab7cbdc.png"></figure><code>Soon, the Community Broadband Toolkit will allow the communities you’re partnering with to get going on their side with community broadband performance data collection.</code><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>Why Now?</h2>While each state will have its own project-level requirements, the core of what you’re going to need to produce is already well-documented by the <a href="https://broadband.money/ntia-bead-nofo/notice-of-funding-opportunity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NTIA’s NOFO</a>. Think of it like Turbotax – you can do your main “application” (1040 federal return) and then later do your state-level “applications” (returns).States will finalize submission requirements in a few months. Meanwhile, your application model is safely stored while you develop answers, team up with collaborators, and make progress through developing your proposals. This way, when your states of interest open their portals, you’ll be ready.While it’s certainly possible to wait on state plans and Fabric maps, it’s not clear that’s a winning strategy. Three reasons you should consider starting now:<h3>Incumbents aren’t waiting</h3>Local providers and the communities they’re teaming up with to serve need every advantage in the fight to divert resources from where they’ve historically gone.While <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/federal-communications-commission" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">FCC </a>Fabric will surely be light years ahead of Form 477 self-reporting, the self-reported nature of the data still remains a risk for local providers and communities who need better broadband. It’s worth having a different point of view. Luckily, NTIA allows for challenges to Fabric data.<h3>Neither is your competition – current or future</h3>If you’ve been the only game in town for years, you might be caught off guard by the number of new entrants popping up as a result of our nation’s largest-ever investment in broadband. <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BEAD</a> provides the resources to defend, strengthen and increase your territory… but only if you apply and win.<h3>You need matching funds up front</h3>For many local providers and communities, the minimum 25% matching fund requirement – with proof required at the time of filing your proposals – will be the Achilles heel for otherwise great applications. With Broadband.money, qualified providers will be able to line up matching funds from a range of sources. This way, otherwise capable, qualified local providers, and the communities they are serving, won’t be left in the dust by well-funded rivals.<h3>Get Started on BEAD Grant Applications</h3>If you’re already pre-enrolled, look for your email invitation to join Broadband.money. The first guide you’ll complete is <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-guides/getting-ready-for-bead" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Getting Ready for BEAD</a>.

On behalf of the Broadband.money and Ready teams, we are thankful you are undertaking the quest to help end the digital divide once and for all. Enrollment is now open for local providers intending to pursue BEAD grants. Get Started on BEAD, Middle Mile, Digital Equity, and Tribal Broadband Grants.

Get Started on BEAD, Middle Mile, Digital Equity, and Tribal Broadband Grants

BEAD Grant Applications are Now Open | Broadband.money

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BEAD Grant Applications are Now Open for Local Providers

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Identifying <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/unserved-location">unserved </a>and <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/underserved-location">underserved </a>communities is the central challenge for policymakers when deciding where to allocate federal broadband funding flowing from the BEAD grants.&nbsp;To bring more precision to the process, Broadband Money uses multiple sets of data that measure network performance to build the Ready Speed Rank. We have combined datasets collected by <a href="https://www.measurementlab.net/">Measurement Lab</a> (MLab,) <a href="https://www.ookla.com/articles/how-ookla-ensures-accurate-reliable-data-2021">Ookla</a>, and the Federal Communications Commission’s <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/general/broadband-deployment-data-fcc-form-477">form 477 data</a>. The benefit of this approach is that it provides a multi-faceted view of geographic areas – instead of unchecked, self-reported data from providers that is submitted in the form 477 data collection process.&nbsp;Here’s how the Ready Speed Rank system is better than the FCC's when used as a sole source of truth.In this article, we compared the FCC’s form 477 data to the address level speed test <a href="https://publicservice.vermont.gov/content/broadband-availability" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">survey data</a> collected by the state of Vermont. (Remember that the FCC’s form 477 data relies instead on block-level reporting from providers.) Then we compare the Ready Speed Rank to the FCC's form 477 reports.&nbsp;When we performed this comparison, we found that 41.5% (25,359) of the unserved addresses (service tier below 25/3 Mbps) in Vermont would be classified as "served" if we only relied on the FCC's form 477 data. In contrast, the Ready Speed Rank only shows 0.6% (371) of the unserved addresses from the Vermont survey within blocks that we define as served.<h2>Compare the FCC’s Form 477 block level speed report with the address-level speed survey from the state of Vermont.</h2>We first associate the address-level speed report data from the state of Vermont to US Census Block data. A total of 310,633 addresses were included in the Vermont study, among which 61,194 (19.7%) households are reported unserved (service tier below 25/3 Mbps.) For each census block, we obtain the FCC 477 data, including the consumer level's maximum download and upload speed.Fig. 1 shows a mapping comparison of the broadband services from FCC's form 477 reports versus data from Vermont's current address level speed survey.&nbsp;Table 1 summarizes the results. We show that around 41.5% (25,359) of "unserved” addresses are currently classified as "served” per FCC’s current 477 data.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/why_Ready_Speed_Rank_01_4942b0deb0.png"></figure>Fig. 1. Compare the FCC’s Form 477 report (census block level) and Vermont address-level speed survey data.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/report_ready_vermont_c1e2c7b8a5.png"></figure>Table 1. Percentage of addresses classified into different categories based on the FCC form 477 reports. Around 41.51% of currently unserved addresses (reported by Vermont Speed Survey) are within the "served" territory based on FCC's 477 records. Number in each row will add up to 100%<h2>Compare the Ready Speed Rank with Vermont's address-level survey.</h2>Ready Speed Rank is a metric that integrates FCC 477 form data and Ookla, and MLab speed test data. If the FCC’s 477 report indicates no provider in a census block, we assume the census block is “unserved”. If a census block is reported with upload and download speeds above 25 Mbps/3 Mbps by FCC 477, but MLab and Ookla imply otherwise, we consider this census block “likely unserved”. The Ready Speed Rank only considers a census block as "served" when all three data sources report that a census block is “served.” In this way, we mitigate the bias brought by potential sampling errors and different speed test methods. Again, Fig. 2a shows the Ready Speed Rank distribution in Vermont, and Table 2 reports the confusion matrix*.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/fig_02_f402767eb6.png"></figure>Fig. 2. Distribution of Ready Speed Rank<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/report_confusion477_vermont_f82392aa9e.png"></figure>Table 2. Compare Ready Speed Rank with Vermont speed survey. We can reduce the miss-classification of unserved addresses to 0.61%. By combining other metrics, Ready Speed Rank can capture unserved addresses under the “likely" and "arguably" categories.To conclude, by leveraging multiple data sources, Ready Speed Rank provides better estimates of the unserved and underserved communities. This is the first of our case studies to demonstrate how our team leverages data so that policymakers and grant seekers and grant makers can make better funding allocation decisions. &nbsp;<h4>Data Used in this Report</h4><ul><li>Vermont Address Level Speed Data: <a href="https://publicservice.vermont.gov/content/broadband-availability" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><code>https://publicservice.vermont.gov/content/broadband-availability</code></a></li><li>Category of served, unserved, underserved with FCC 477 (redistributed by NTIA): <a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/census-block-lists-state-and-territory" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><code>https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/census-block-lists-state-and-territory</code></a></li><li>Ready Speed Rank &nbsp;</li></ul><h4>Footnote:</h4>*Confused? A “confusion matrix” is a data science term that summarizes the results of a classification task. Each address point could be classified as “served”, “underserved”, and “unserved” per Vermont’s speed survey and Ready Speed Rank. The matrix shows the proportion of addresses classified into the same class or different classes by the two methods.

Identifying unserved and underserved communities is the central challenge for policymakers when deciding where to allocate federal broadband funding flowing from the BEAD grants. The Ready Speed Rank pinpoints unserved and underserved communities.

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Why Ready Speed Rank?

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Applicants to the National Telecommunication and Information Administration’s $1 billion <a href="https://www.internetforall.gov/program/enabling-middle-mile-broadband-infrastructure-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Middle Mile Grant Program</a> will be required to submit project details prior to being awarded grant funds.<a href="https://grants.ntia.gov/grantsPortal/s/funding-program/a0g3d00000018PAAAY/middle-mile-broadband-infrastructure-grant-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Middle Mile program</a> will allocate funds based on a competitive process for building out middle mile infrastructure. Eligible entities include states, tribal governments, tech companies, utility cooperatives, and nonprofit organizations.Project details should include an executive summary that analyses how the proposed project will advance the Middle Mile Grant Program and Notice of Funding Opportunity objectives, <a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/MIDDLE%20MILE%20NOFO.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">which can be found in the NOFO.</a>&nbsp;It will also provide an overview of the proposed route or service areas and indicate a level of need in the service areas.&nbsp;Applicants should then submit a Level of Need Narrative which will describe the level of need in the proposed service areas, estimated end-users, and any service providers that have expressed interest in completing last mile infrastructure after the project completion.&nbsp;The project detail should also include a government and community involvement section where applicants need to detail the coordination and level of involvement with local and state governments.Eligible entities will make a binding commitment to prioritize at least one of the objectives of the Middle Mile Grant Program: Connecting middle mile infrastructure to last mile networks that service unserved areas, connecting non-contiguous trust lands, and offering wholesale broadband service. The entity should make additional commitments as part of the project detail portion of the application.&nbsp;Applicants are expected to explain:&nbsp;<ul><li>How projects have taken national security requirements into account </li><li>How projects will train a workforce to develop the needed skills </li><li>How projects improve climate resiliency.&nbsp;</li><li>Applicants also need to provide a project timeline.</li></ul>See also:<h3><a href="https://broadband.money/blog/ntia-officials-detail-middle-mile-application-process" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NTIA officials detail Middle Mile application process</a>, Broadband.Money, July 5, 2022</h3><h3><a href="https://broadband.money/blog/ntia-officials-review-middle-mile-grant-program-process-in-webinar" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NTIA officials review Middle Mile Grant program process in webinar</a>, Broadband.Money, May 27, 2022</h3>&nbsp;

Needed elements include executive summary,  overview, Level of Need Narrative, government and community involvement section, and binding commitment to prioritize at least one of the program's objectives.

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Contents of NTIA’s Middle Mile Grant Program application

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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s “Internet for All”-branded series of webinars hosted a program on June 30, 2022, that provided step-by-step instructions for entities looking to apply for the Enabling Middle Mile Grant program.&nbsp;The Enabling Middle Mile Grant program is part of the $65 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It is, however, a relatively modest program in that it makes only $1 billion available for middle-mile infrastructure builds.&nbsp;Unlike the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, in which the “eligible entities” to apply to the NTIA are the states themselves, in the Middle Mile Grant program, a wide range of telecommunications providers – including electric coops. telecom companies, non-profit foundations, or partnerships between any of the listed entities – are eligible to apply.&nbsp;The NTIA will award Middle Mile funds on a competitive basis no earlier than March 1, 2023. Applications are due September 30 and upon accepting awards, entities will have a 5-year deployment window for their middle mile infrastructure buildouts.Applications begin by completing the SF-424: Application for Federal Assistance form which is available in the Middle-Mile Grant Program Application Package. The package includes an application checklist, forms, templates, and instructions and can be found on the Internet for All webpage.SF-424 form content will be inputted into the NTIA grants portal. Detailed instructions for inputting information will be available in the Middle Mile Grant Program Application Guidance.Applicants then continue the process through the grants portal, where they will provide details of their organization’s management and capacity. Applicants also indicate what type of entity they are, and the primary applicant in the case of partnerships. Applicants also upload one-page resumes for all key management personnel and all key personnel of subcontractors or entities that will play a substantial role in operating programs built through funding.&nbsp;Applicants then upload organizational charts detailing all their parent companies. An organizational details narrative describing an entities readiness to manage a middle mile broadband network are required. The narrative should identify who will own the assets, the experience and qualifications of key management to undertake the project, the applicant’s experience in undertaking projects of similar size and scope, recent and upcoming organizational changes, and relevant organizational policies.Finally, entities will upload forms CD-511: Certification regarding lobbying, and Form-LLL: Disclosure of Lobbying activities. A screenshot verifying the entities registration at SAM.gov will also be required.In the webinar, NTIA’s Middle Mile Program Director Sarah Bleu suggests that applicants use the NTIA-provided templates to ensure the integrity of the application, and that applicants confirm that the project name and budget information are consistent across all forms.

The June 30, 2022, webinar provided step-by-step instructions for entities looking to apply for the Enabling Middle Mile Grant program. 

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NTIA officials detail Middle Mile application process

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At a small telecommunications industry event in Park City, Utah, called the “Rural Wireless Infrastructure Summit,” officials at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration refined their broadband infrastructure spending message to include a role for wireless deployment.“We are thinking about deploying fiber really deep into the country” and putting “wireless on top of that” to enable multiple applications – including precision agriculture – that will benefit from better broadband deployment, said Phil Murphy a senior advisor in office of the assistant secretary of NTIA, on June 28, 2022.The&nbsp;NTIA is the U.S. Commerce Department agency responsible for spending more than $45 billion of the $65 billion for broadband allocated by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. His virtual keynote address was followed by state-level broadband officials and others in the rural wireless space.&nbsp;“We see a lot of benefits here to the industry as a whole, and to able to access high speed services as a result” of the administration’s push for broadband. Although he acknowledged that <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/06/ntia-official-acknowledges-clear-preference-for-fiber-in-infrastructure-deployment-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NTIA has a preference for fiber deployment</a>, he also noted that states will be the primary drivers of their respective spends on funding.What works in Delaware may not work in Wyoming, he acknowledged.Murphy also addressed digital equity planning grants, which are due to be filed by states on July 12, 2022, as well as issues of Tribal broadband funding, a subject of particular interest to many in the Western U.S.Although a previous funding round for nearly $1 billion in Tribal broadband funding closed last year, IIJA provides an additional $2 billion for Tribal broadband. Murphy said the NTIA will release a second notice of funding opportunity for Tribal broadband later this year.“We found many Tribes that didn’t apply, or applications that were as strong as they should have been,” he said, speaking about the first round of funding.Tribal leaders, he said, “face a lot of unique kinds of resources challenges,” including the need that many Tribal elders had to apply for the first round of broadband grants at the same time as the subsistence hunting season.Murphy said the NTIA will create a new funding window during a different time of the year.&nbsp;<h3>Other digital infrastructure investment matters for Rural America</h3>The Park City event, which featured other keynote remarks by Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/06/fcc-chairwoman-jessica-rosenworcel-emphasizes-100-percent-broadband-adoption/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jessica Rosenworcel</a> and Commissioner <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/06/fcc-commissioner-supports-rural-telco-efforts-to-implement-rip-and-replace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Geoffrey Starks</a>, was co-hosted by the Rural Wireless Association and the <a href="https://rinawireless.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rural Independent Network Alliance</a>.RINA has core strength in the intermountain West. It aims to help rural wireless carriers with a number of technology tasks, including replacing Chinese-manufactured telecommunications equipment, such as has been purchased by many in recent years from Huawei.Other speakers at the event focused on the way in which fiber deployments deeper into communities (both urban and rural), coupled with money from private equity, represent an infrastructure opportunity for Rural America.Speaking on an infrastructure roundtable, Alok Sarsidharan, vice present of specialized and asset management procurement for the Macquarie Group, said that mixing private capital with IIJA funding provides an opportunity for both investors and broadband users to win.

The industry as a whole, including wireless and fiber providers, will benefit from the Commerce Department's broadband deployment under the bipartisan infrastructure law.

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Wireless infrastructure part of fiber-fed future, says NTIA official at rural summit

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Ohio submitted a planning grant application to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for the “Ohio Digital Equity Plan” via the grant portal.&nbsp;Cleveland, Ohio has been named by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance the worst big city in America for connectivity, stated the application, with an estimated 30 percent of households without internet access. Miles away in a rural Appalachian village called Coal Grove, Ohio, thousands of residents lack basic internet access.&nbsp;The state of Ohio is determined to resolve its “widespread” connectivity issue. In 2020, the state established its broadband office, called BroadbandOhio, to improve internet access for its citizens.&nbsp;“A step towards achieving the goal of universal coverage in Ohio will be taking part in the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program,” continued the application. “Developing this plan for the state of Ohio will promote the achievement of digital equity, support inclusion activities and increase the adoption of broadband in Ohio.”BroadbandOhio is preparing to hire a Manager for Digital Equity and Inclusion to lead the development of this plan. The position will be responsible to manage the planning process, coordinate meetings with stakeholders, and manage data. The office has already identified the next steps in planning that will occur immediately upon funding.&nbsp;Ohio has a “rich history” of groups that have been working in the digital equity space for some time, and it hopes to benefit from these relationships.“The initial objective is to convene key stakeholders that BroadbandOhio has already identified and been working with as well as new stakeholders to develop a plan of statewide collaboration and coordination with organizations that represent covered populations, CAIs, local governments, educational institutions, non-profits, and many more,” read the application.BroadbandOhio has already enjoyed success at hosting statewide meetings with stakeholders to share broadband ideas and objectives. It hopes that this practice will help shape the digital equity plan by identifying and measuring the impact of barriers to digital equity in its communities. It believes that this group will become the focal point for outreach at a grassroots level.The office will sub-award planning grant money under two categories. The first sub-award category will be allocated to sub-grantees for meeting facilitation, data collection and community engagement activities. The second sub-award category will help fund pilot programs to engage with covered populations to ensure coalitions are collecting proper data and engaging in proper populations.Ohio anticipates that the planning process will be executed over a year period with total estimated costs of $1.47 million. It will be “a clear path forward with actionable and achievable next steps,” promised the application.BroadbandOhio has not received any comment from the NTIA on the application. Applications for the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program are due July 12 and are submitted through the NTIA application portal.&nbsp;

In its planning grant application to the NTIA, Ohio says it is determined to resolve its “widespread” connectivity issues.

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Ohio submits its application for a Digital Equity Planning grant 

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The Federal Communications Commission on June 29, 2022, released a complete tutorial for filers in the Broadband Data Collection system <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2022/06/webinar-using-broadband-data-collection-system">in a webinar</a>.&nbsp;Broadband providers, third parties, and government entities will submit broadband coverage information into the system. This data will be aggregated into a comprehensive coverage map that federal grant programs will use to help funnel federal dollars where broadband infrastructure is needed.&nbsp;The filing system opens for filing on June 30, 2022, but <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/06/tiktok-data-concerns-broadband-data-collection-system-impact-of-internet-access-on-covid-19-mortality/">early access has been available a week prior</a> for users to register their entities and become familiar with the system.&nbsp;&nbsp;Upon beginning the filing process, entities will complete four steps for their data to be aggregated into the FCC maps.&nbsp;The first is subscription where service providers will provide data on mobile and fixed broadband subscription. This step will not be completed by government agencies.&nbsp;&nbsp;The second step is availability and supporting data where entities will provide the FCC with broadband availability data. Each technology included in the submission will require supporting data which differs for each technology but may include sections such as “propagation modeling information” and “link budget information.”&nbsp;The third step is final data checks to analyze the data for any abnormalities or inconsistencies. This step serves as a safeguard to prevent any inaccurate data from being accepted by the BDC system. Every warning flagged by the system will require a full explanation to the FCC team before proceeding to the final step.&nbsp;The fourth and final step is certification.&nbsp; This step clarifies that the entity confirms the accuracy of the data and allows entities to require confidentiality for submitted data. This step confirms the submission and the FCC will then review the data.&nbsp;&nbsp;All submissions should be completed by September 1 and questions can be submitted via the FCC website.

The Federal Communications Commission released new instruction for entities to submit mapping data.

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