White House Touts Broadband Progress – Telecompetitor

The Biden Administration has released a fact sheet that updates progress on broadband and other infrastructure upgrades during the past two years.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. has a budget of $65 billion for broadband initiative, including making high speed Internet available to all Americans, as well as for affordability and digital literacy programs, the fact sheet notes.

As of now, 17.9 million households are enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). To encourage further participation, the FCC has allocated $100 million in paid media and grants for ACP outreach. The first $73 million in grants were announced in April.

The U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Agricultural are coordinating $1.7 billion in grants for rural broadband, $1 billion for middle mile high-speed Internet infrastructure and state allocations for a $42.5 billion state grant program, the fact sheet notes.

Separately, Commerce has awarded 147 grants in the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program for more than $1.76 billion. These have been given to more than 210 Tribal governments. The White House says that additional awards are expected in the coming weeks.

The initiatives covered in the fact sheet include broadband as well as clean energy development, the rebuilding of roads and bridges, lead pipe replacement and cleanup of existing pollution. In all, more than $220 billion from the BIL has been directed to more than 32,000 infrastructure projects that have impacted more than 4,500 communities in all the states, territories and the District of Columbia, according to the White House.

More than 5,000 federal employees have been hired and the states and territories have put infrastructure coordinators in place to ensure clear communications with their federal counterparts, the fact sheet notes.

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White House Touts Broadband Progress - Telecompetitor