Florida State Broadband Office

The Office of Broadband is organised under the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, working with private businesses, community organisations and government agencies to provide broadband throughout the state. So far, 94% of residents have access to affordable broadband plans.

"The Department of Economic Opportunity’s Office of Broadband, created in 2020, received $1.5 million last Legislative Session to develop a broadband availability map. Local technology planning teams were also created under state law to help better understand the availability of broadband," according to Florida Politics, a local politics news outlet.

The publication also quotes the Broadband Office Director Katie Smith saying that it's doing all this to prepare for federal funding.

“It is to better identify assets relevant to broadband deployment, and really help communities prepare for all of the federal funding that was just previously mentioned,” she said.

Florida is expected to receive $82.5 million through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, administered by the FCC.

Qualified ISP’s will be able to receive funding to further advance broadband to rural areas across the state.

Certain municipalities are able to determine how their share of funding is distributed and purpose. For example, Alachua County, FL intends to allocate $15 million toward broadband infrastructure as a part of its recovery plan.