Telecom agency to disperse $277M for broadband expansion
Washington, D.C. – Twelve states are among the beneficiaries of $277 million in National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) grants to connect unserved households.
Missouri’s Department of Economic Development topped the list of awardees with $42.24 million going toward its last-mile fiber deployment across 12 counties. The project is designed to bring qualifying broadband to more than 13,000 unserved households with up to 1 gigabyte per second service.
The state of Mississippi will get $32.7 million in grant funding to implement last- and middle-mile broadband via 10 unique projects in 10 counties across the state.
A regional public-private partnership in Acadiana, Louisiana, will receive nearly $30 million to deploy fiber to more than 22,000 rural underserved areas in Acadia, Evangeline, and St. Landry parishes.
The ConnectMaine Authority will collect $28.1 million to provide last-mile broadband to 11,700 unserved households in rural Maine, and the North Carolina Global TransPark Authority will receive $30 million to bring fiber to 15,000 unserved homes in Lenoir County.
NTIA awarded $20.46 million to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, for the Rural Broadband Infrastructure Expansion in the Alleghenies project. Planners propose to deploy last-mile fixed wireless to six counties in the Southern Alleghenies region.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, provides a historic $65 billion investment to expand broadband in communities across the U.S.
NTIA is preparing to launch a series of new broadband grant programs funded by the law that will build broadband infrastructure across the country, create more low-cost broadband service options, and address the digital equity and inclusion needs in U.S. communities.