More than $42 billion in aid will be distributed across the United States to expand broadband access, President Joe Biden said Monday.
As part of the Biden administration’s goal to connect everyone to “reliable, affordable high-speed internet by the end of the decade,” the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program will distribute funding between states, territories and Washington, DC, according to a Press release.
At a minimum, the territories will receive $27 million and the states $107 million, up to a maximum of $3.3 billion. Each award is listed in a Press release. “Put simply, high-speed internet is a necessity in today’s society,” said Mitch Landrieu, White House infrastructure coordinator and senior adviser to the president.
The administration noted that 8.5 million households and small businesses are located in areas without high-speed internet access, roughly matching the number listed on new Federal Communications Commission maps showing gaps in connectivity in the United States. The FCC had released its first versions of the revamped maps in November, which replaced the large census blocks used in previous versions to determine whether 114 million individual homes and businesses actually have connectivity.
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The $42 billion in funding to roll out high-speed internet to areas without it comes from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law signed into law in November.
In areas where broadband is already available, an additional $14.2 billion from the Infrastructure Act is planned to create a permanent $30 per month subsidy program to make high-speed internet more affordable for low income people. Other matching funds include $2.75 billion for digital equity and inclusion efforts, which could help end the digital redlining that prevents ISPs from serving low-income areas with fast internet, as well as $2 billion for Indigenous governments and organizations and $2 billion in grants and loans to build internet infrastructure in rural areas.
When will you have faster Internet access with BEAD?
The BEAD program provides funds to states and territories to connect areas that lack high-speed broadband Internet access. Therefore, if your area has broadband, these funds will not improve your connectivity. Each state and territory received different amounts, ranging from a low of $27 million for the US Virgin Islands to a high of $3.3 billion for Texas.
A handful of states have released draft plans for how they will use these BEAD funds, which were collected by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Where available, these plans have been linked next to the state or territory grant amount.
- Alabama: $1,401,221,901.77
- Alaska: $1,017,139,672.42
- Arizona: $993,112,231.37
- Arkansas: $1,024,303,993.86
- California: $1,864,136,508.93
- Colorado: $826,522,650.41
- Connecticut: $144,180,792.71
- Delaware: $107,748,384.66
- District of Columbia: $100,694,786.93
- Florida: $1,169,947,392.70
- Georgia: $1,307,214,371.30
- Hawaii: $149,484,493.57 (BEAD five-year action plan)
- Idaho: $583,256,249.88
- Illinois: $1,040,420,751.50
- Indiana: $868,109,929.79
- Iowa: $415,331,313.00
- Kansas: $451,725,998.15
- Kentucky: $1,086,172,536.86
- Louisiana: $1,355,554,552.94 (BEAD Initial proposal)
- Maine: $271,977,723.07 (BEAD five-year action plan)
- Maryland: $267,738,400.71
- Massachusetts: $147,422,464.39
- Michigan: $1,559,362,479.29
- Minnesota: $651,839,368.20
- Mississippi: $1,203,561,563.05
- Missouri: $1,736,302,708.39
- Montana: $628,973,798.59 (BEAD five-year action plan)
- Nebraska: $405,281,070.41
- Nevada: $416,666,229.74
- New Hampshire: $196,560,278.97
- New Jersey: $263,689,548.65
- New Mexico: $675,372,311.86
- New York: $664,618,251.49
- North Carolina: $1,532,999,481.15
- North Dakota: $130,162,815.12
- Ohio: $793,688,107.63 (BEAD five-year action plan)
- Oklahoma: $797,435,691.25
- Oregon: $688,914,932.17
- Pennsylvania: $1,161,778,272.41
- Rhode Island: $108,718,820.75
- South Carolina: $551,535,983.05
- South Dakota: $207,227,523.92
- Tennessee: $813,319,680.22
- Texas: $3,312,616,455.45
- Utah: $317,399,741.54 (BEAD five-year action plan)
- Vermont: $228,913,019.08
- Virginia: $1,481,489,572.87 (BEAD Initial proposal)
- Washington: $1,227,742,066.30
- West Virginia: $1,210,800,969.85
- Wisconsin: $1,055,823,573.71
- Wyoming: $347,877,921.27
- American Samoa: $37,564,827.53
- Guam: $156,831,733.59
- Northern Mariana Islands: $80,796,709.02
- Puerto Rico: $334,614,151.70
- US Virgin Islands: $27,103,240.86
For more on broadband, here are CNET’s lists of the best broadband internet providers of 2023, the best internet providers for streaming, and the best cheap internet providers, plus a guide on how to switch. broadband provider.
