President Joe Biden is moving closer to distributing more than $40 billion in funding to support broadband expansion across the country as part of his administration’s goal of connecting all Americans to high-speed internet by 2030.
The funding, authorized in Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure package for 2021, will be divided proportionally among states based on need, with each state receiving at least $100 million. Monday’s mappings were made using broadband coverage maps that were recently updated to include more than a million new locations.
“Just as Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered electricity to every home in America through his Rural Electrification Act, the announcement is part of President Biden’s broader effort to deliver investment, jobs and opportunity directly to working and middle-class families across the country.” , a White House official said in a statement Monday.
States are expected to submit their plans for using the funding in December. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), housed in the Department of Commerce, plans to approve these plans before next spring, when it will begin allocating 20 percent of a state’s authorized funding and rolling out infrastructure can begin. At least 80 percent of the resources will have been allocated by the end of 2025.
The White House is expected to release the amounts received by each state on Monday afternoon.
Earlier this month, NTIA announced $930 million for 35 “middle-mile” broadband construction projects connecting major fiber networks to smaller, local networks that can already reach homes and businesses across the country.
The Biden administration is expected to invest more than $90 billion to expand fair and affordable internet access across the country. As part of the American Rescue Plan, more than $25 billion has been authorized to build broadband infrastructure and subsidize the cost of connected devices for low-income people.
“The Middle Mile program is a force multiplier in our efforts to connect everyone in America,” NTIA administration Alan Davidson said in a statement earlier this month. “Middle Mile infrastructure brings capacity to our local networks and reduces the cost of deploying future local networks.”
