NTIA awarded more than $5.8 million in additional Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program grants to 12 tribes Tuesday. The new funding will help expand internet access for 164 tribal households, said a news release. The agency said it will release an additional notice of funding opportunity for the program "in the next few months."
The Washington state legislature passed a bill to provide a sales and use tax exemption for internet and telecom infrastructure projects involving a federally recognized tribe. The House voted 96-0 Thursday to concur with Senate amendments to HB-1711. The bill will go next to Gov. Jay Inslee (D).
Fiber and wireless proponents faced off in comments this week on a California Public Utilities Commission rulemaking to develop state rules for distributing dollars from NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program (docket R.23-02-016). They disagreed on how high California should set its Extremely High Cost Per Location Threshold (EHCT), which will be used to determine what areas can get non-fiber broadband service. Commenters also debated how much the CPUC should add to requirements from the BEAD notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) and how much the state agency should rely on the FCC’s national map to determine what areas are served.
An FCC order directing the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to issue an additional notice of funding opportunity for the affordable connectivity program's national competitive outreach grant and the tribal competitive outreach grant programs is effective Tuesday, said a notice for that day's Federal Register. The commission made up to $10 million available to be spent equally by each grant program (see 2303150058).
More areas are eligible for state broadband funding under the California Public Utilities Commission’s more granular mapping approach for 2023, CPUC officials said Monday. The CPUC held a California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) virtual workshop with ISPs, consumers, local governments, and regional consortia. “The validation process we’re using for CASF … is more rigorous and more responsive to the reality on the ground than what we’re seeing at the federal level,” said Communications Division Director Robert Osborn.
Members of the FCC Precision Ag Task Force raised concerns Tuesday about how the commission's next iteration of the broadband availability map will treat agricultural lands. Meeting virtually, the task force also heard updates from working group leaders and discussed the timing of its reports amid efforts to pass the 2023 farm bill (see 2212020059).
Commerce Department Inspector General Peggy Gustafson plans to emphasize at a Wednesday hearing that her office is “committed to oversight” of the $48 billion in broadband funding under NTIA’s administration from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Subpanel Republicans aim for the House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee hearing to criticize what they view as excessive spending via IIJA and other measures (see 2303230077). Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., meanwhile, led refiling of the Reforming Broadband Connectivity Act in a bid to revamp USF's funding mechanism (see 2112220072). Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., led a House companion measure.
NTIA awarded more than $25.7 million in additional tribal broadband connectivity program support to two tribal nations Thursday. The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota received more than $11.4 million and the Pueblo of Acoma in New Mexico received more than $14.3 million, said a news release. The new funding will support "more than 1,500 tribal households, connecting them to economic and educational opportunities that many of us take for granted," said Administrator Alan Davidson.
The Cherokee Nation said a new AT&T cell tower in Kenwood, Oklahoma, means people there no longer have to drive more than 10 miles to get mobile wireless service. The nation said it approached AT&T after getting American Rescue Plan Act funding. “COVID-19 highlighted the critical connectivity needs for the community, which includes Cherokee speakers,” said a Wednesday news release: “Reliable internet is needed to access tribal services, health care, emergency services, education and Cherokee language services.”
AT&T highlighted its recent growth in wireless and fiber in a Wednesday news release. AT&T’s wireless network now covers more than 2.91 million square miles in the U.S., “an increase of about 100,000 square miles in 2022, or like covering the entire United Kingdom,” AT&T said. The network is available to 290 million people in nearly 24,000 cities and towns across the U.S. AT&T also increased wireless coverage by more than 40% on federally recognized tribal lands in 2020-2022, the company said. In 2022, AT&T said it laid more than 60,000 miles of fiber in the U.S.: “All that fiber helps carry more than 594 petabytes of data traffic on an average day, up 23% year-over-year.”