State Broadband Offices Related Broadband Grants News

Jan 02, 2023

State officials are responsible for the disbursal of federal broadband infrastructure funds, but many offices are understaffed.

Jan 02, 2023

State officials are responsible for the disbursal of federal broadband infrastructure funds, but many offices are understaffed.

Jan 11, 2023

I’ve seen folks around the country suggesting that state broadband offices ought to put a priority on sustainability when selecting winners of broadband grant funding. It’s a concept that has instant appeal, but I immediately asked myself what it means. How do you measure sustainability in a way that can be used to score grant requests? The first test of sustainability is the expected life of the assets being constructed. Another test of any internet service provider (ISP) on sustainability is the financial ability and willingness to replace those electronics. That’s hard to judge. A big factor in sustainability is the operating philosophy of the ISP that owns the networks. We know there is a big range of (what I would call) corporate responsibility between ISPs. If we go strictly by the past, then the ISPs that have the most likely chance of operating a sustainable network for the long term are cooperatives or small telcos. If sustainability was the most important factor in awarding a grant, I personally would give all of the money to cooperatives and none to big ISPs. 

Jan 26, 2023

Digital Equity provisions are central to state broadband offices’ plans to implement the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Feb 09, 2023

By working with existing entities like utilities, states can establish more effective state offices.

Apr 19, 2023

We sent a memo to state broadband offices that are participating in our broadband education and training initiative, detailing the diverse strategies that California, Iowa, Michigan, and North Carolina have employed to direct grant funding to priority areas—communities that have a substantial unmet need for investment in broadband infrastructure. Several state broadband programs have utilized mechanisms to designate specific communities as “priority areas” within the project areas eligible for grants, allowing them to target or further incentivize grant funding to those communities. Key takeaways from the states include:Critically, each of these approaches relies on the quality of the underlying data or evidence used to select the priority areas. As states consider utilizing priority area designation mechanisms in their grant programs, the benefits and drawbacks of these different approaches should be weighed within the context of existing state practices and the requirements of any applicable federal program.

Apr 25, 2023

I totally get it: there are so many events going on in the rural broadband field that itcan truly be hard to keep track of everything. But the one summit that is different from so many of the others is Smart Rural Community Live, which is taking place for the second time this June in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As is typical in the trade association world, we gather and talk to ourselves (or have someone else come talk to us). What I found so energizing about last year’s Smart Rural Community Live was the other critical rural voices in the room and around the table. From community leaders to state broadband offices to economic development specialists to rural policy leaders to smart ag app developers, the buzz was real. You could feel the energy in the room.This year, we will be building on that energy and focusing on partnerships, collaborations and learning from one another. The meeting comes just as state broadband offices are setting a priority on the public private partnerships that providers are creating and will show how to help move this historic broadband funding program forward.With this heavy focus on funding and rural communities, attendees who are eager to grow their networks or amplify how their communities are utilizing their already robust networks will find this gathering to be an ideal opportunity to exchange ideas with others.I am already thrilled by the folks who have agreed to come and share thoughts and ideas with NTCA members (and their gratis community development partners if they choose to bring them).Kathryn de Wit, project director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Broadband Access Initiative, will help kick off a discussion about national partners with the lead rural America liaison at the White House and the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, whose role it is to build a bridge between the agency, the state broadband offices, the governor’s offices and everyone else who falls on that spectrum. Whew, the breadth of that job gets me tired just thinking about it.Couple that with break outs on public health and safety (or as our team refers to it, “How technology is being used to address the things we don’t like to talk about”), where esports and education meet, virtual reality solutions in telehealth, smart ag, economic development, broadband funding and more and you have the recipe for a very informative conference.I get excited every week when our team gives me an update on where we are with our growing Smart Rural Community designations, all so timely as this advocacy branding tool is the best thing I can think of for sharing why you are deserving of additional funding resources. What better way to highlight your motivation and long track record of building networks to benefit your communities?And fun fact: in the spirit of who is engaged in our industry and really focused on telling their story of building broadband in rural America, 90 percent of the 500 attendees who attended our annual fly-in to Washington, D.C. are from our Smart Rural/Smart Communities program. Our next goal? Getting more NTCA members to join our platform so we can truly and effectively differentiate our community-based providers with a long, rich history of service from so many of the new entrants into the broadband space chasing dollars. We’ll never have the resources to create a brand like the electric coops have with Touchstone Energy, nor will we be sponsoring major sporting events, but we have something even better: a national network of rural broadband providers who are getting the job done for their neighbors, friends and family.If you are already a Smart Rural Community provider, come join us and share how you use its branding and tools. If you are not yet a Smart Rural Community provider, come join us and hear what all the fuss is about!© 2023, NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association All rights reserved. 4121 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22203Explore NTCA Sites

May 01, 2023

State broadband offices are tasked with outlining their challenge processes amid other concerns.

May 05, 2023

The May 10 Connect (X) session will discuss the Middle Mile Program and the key role of state broadband offices.

May 23, 2023

States are implementing a variety of strategies as they allocate the initial rounds of federal Capital Projects Fund (CPF) dollars to help expand access to broadband services. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has officially released more than half of the CPF dollars, with $6 billion awarded to 40 states as of May 2023. Approaches to using the funding differ widely depending on states’ needs and resources, but in many instances, officials are making these decisions while planning how best to use other federal funding still to come in order to ensure that more residents will have high-speed internet. As of April 2023, the majority of CPF funding announcements have involved states using funds to expand or create programs that target what is known as last-mile service—the broadband connections available directly for customers’ homes or businesses—in unserved and underserved areas. Those are typically areas without access to internet speeds of 25/3 Mbps or 100/20 Mbps, respectively, depending on the definitions used by each state and territory.

Jun 05, 2023

Anybody who is intimately familiar with the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Map knows that there is a lot of fiction buried in the reporting. There is one huge flaw in the FCC mapping system that has carried over from the previous FCC mapping regime—internet service providers (ISP) self-report the speeds they can deliver. Per the FCC mapping rules, ISPs can claim broadband marketing speeds rather than some approximation of actual speeds. In every county where I’ve delved deep into the local situation, I’ve found multiple ISPs that are overclaiming broadband speeds. ISPs vary widely in how they report broadband speeds to the FCC. I’m always instantly suspicious of any ISP that claims exactly 100/20 Mbps broadband since that conveniently classifies those locations as served. An ISP making that claim is telling the FCC that everybody in their service footprint already has adequate broadband and that there is no need to give grant money to anybody to compete with them. A second flaw in the FCC maps is the coverage areas claimed by ISPs. The FCC is counting on public broadband challenges or challenges by State Broadband Offices to somehow fix this problem—but that’s an unrealistic hope. It’s going to be interesting to see how States react to these final counts. There have been rumors about states ready to sue the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration if they feel these maps will cheat them out of funding. An even bigger issue is if the FCC maps will be used to determine the locations that are grant eligible—because that would be a travesty. 

Jun 05, 2023

As an aging workforce and a lack of interest among young people threaten to derail nationwide broadband buildout plans, the industry’s stakeholders must come together to tackle what has become a massive fiber workforce shortage, said Deborah Kish, VP of workforce development at the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA). The Government Accountability Office estimated that around 34,000 workers might be needed in 2023 to support the government’s broadband expansion programs, depending on unpredictable project timelines. And the workforce shortage is a legacy the industry left itself in many ways, Kish said. The FBA is focusing on community colleges, veteran programs, departments of corrections, and at-risk youth programs across the country, as well as working with the service provider community, to set up the training infrastructure and workforce pipeline the industry needs. The FBA issued its own Broadband Workforce Development Guidebook, which gives local stakeholders like state broadband offices direction in setting up their own training programs. The program covers skills including installation, splicing and maintenance of fiber

Jun 21, 2023

The Federal Communications Commission originally budgeted $20.4 billion dollars for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) subsidy program to be spent over ten years. The original RDOF reverse auction offered $16 billion in subsidies. But in a story that is now well known, some entities bid RDOF markets down to ridiculously low subsidy levels, and only $9.4 billion was claimed in the auction. $2.8 billion of this funding ended up in default, including some of the bidders who had driven the prices so low. That means that only $6.4 billion of the original $20.4 billion has been allocated. The question I’m asking today is what the FCC will do with the remaining $14 billion. It seems unlikely that there will ever be another RDOF-like reverse auction. RDOF was meant to bring broadband to areas that were unserved according to the FCC’s broadband maps at the time of the reverse auction – meaning areas where no broadband provider claimed broadband speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps. But since providers are able to claim marketing speeds under the FCC mapping rules instead of actual broadband speeds, many millions of unserved locations were left out of the RDOF process. Now that the states have broadband offices, the easiest way for the states to award the remaining RDOF billions would be to let state broadband offices do the heavy lifting.

Jun 27, 2023

As the US sets out to reach the goal of connecting everyone nationwide to broadband, Telecompetitor’s new online resource, Broadband Nation, is your guide to federal and state broadband initiatives. The Broadband Nation web pages contain a wealth of information about state broadband funding programs, including links to funding program rules, funding awards, state broadband offices and Telecompetitor news coverage. All organized by state and frequently updated. The Broadband Nation includes:

Aug 08, 2023

Your state is doing something it has never done before: not just making a plan to achieve digital equity, but thinking about how life in the state will be transformed by closing the digital divide. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration asks states to address two critical questions in their visions of digital equity: 1) What will digital equity look like in the context of your state?and 2) What are the broad goals that should be accomplished in executing this plan (e.g., improve rural health outcomes, increase underrepresented youth employment in technology-related fields)? So does your state have a clear vision? State broadband offices have started releasing draft digital equity plans and visions for public comment. As states and their communities evaluate draft visions of digital equity, please consider these additional questions.

Aug 08, 2023

'A data-driven approach will encourage states to be more transparent, open and honest.’

Oct 13, 2022

The Biden-Harris Action Plan for Accelerating Infrastructure Projects describes federal actions to address these challenges accelerate the planning, design and construction of infrastructure projects across all sectors, including transportation, broadband, resiliency, and others. Organized by the themes of On Time, On Task and On Budget, the actions support more efficient processes, collaboration, sharing of best practices, targeted support to new recipients of federal funding, and focused efforts to root out the causes of delays and overruns. As part of this effort, The Department of Commerce (DOC) will initiate a Dig Once effort in cooperation with the Departments of Transportation and Energy. Dig Once entails interagency coordination on planning, design and construction to prevent multiple excavations for broadband, transportation and electrification projects. DOC will support state broadband offices to work with their counterparts in state energy and transportation departments to identify potential opportunities for project coordination. This effort will support the Federal Highway Administration’s December 2021 Broadband Infrastructure Deployment final rule that allows installation of broadband during road construction projects to minimize disruption and delay.

Nov 15, 2022

State and territory broadband offices have dramatically increased in size over the past year as they deploy billions of dollars in economic recovery funds and start to manage a historic federal investment in broadband expansion. With money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), these offices now have sufficient funding to cover everything from infrastructure deployment to digital literacy. The decisions that leaders make on how to increase their internal capacities and organize their offices will play a significant role in closing the digital divide and shape their ability to continue the momentum beyond this current cycle of investment. Pew’s broadband access initiative has been tracking public job postings for state and territory broadband offices and identified 68 such postings across 29 states from September 2021 through September 2022. The analysis found that states that established their broadband offices within the past year account for the bulk of recent job postings, with hiring focused on key positions such as office directors and administrators. At the same time, already operating offices have increased capacity in more specific roles or posted for positions in response to turnover. Initiatives and programs will need to contend with the persistent demographic factors that exacerbate this divide, including income levels and where people live, as well as the nation’s history of infrastructure construction delays and perpetual innovation in how the internet is used. State broadband offices therefore will need an immediate surge in staffing along with the permanent capacity to ensure that they are able to support efforts to close the digital divide now and into the future.