ARPA. CARES. BEAD. There’s a lot of broadband funding floating around out there. In the past, we’ve helped you get a grip on different broadband programs, tracked down which states allocated American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for connectivity and connected you with the leaders overseeing the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program in each state (complete with a super fun interactive funding map).
2024 may be a new year but we’re still following the money. This time, we’re tracking broadband funding awards as they happen.
Check it out.
January
- Colorado announced plans to award $113 million in Capital Projects Fund dollars for 27 broadband projects across the state.
- Nebraska dished out $19.7 million in grant funding to 10 ISPs, with local providers taking the lion’s share.
- North Carolina was approved to use $82.2 million in Capital Projects Fund money to connect 16,000 homes and businesses in the state.
- Oklahoma allocated $374 million in ARPA funding to 31 ISPs for broadband projects covering more than 55,000 locations.
- South Dakota doled out $32.4 million in grant funding to three ISPs, all of which were local providers.
February
- Florida awarded $135 million in state funding toward 54 broadband expansion projects across 33 counties.
- Alabama dished out $188 million in ARPA funding to Charter, Uniti and local ISPs to build middle mile networks.
- South Carolina awarded $72 million, concluding the third and final round of its Capital Project Fund.
- Alabama doled out another $150 million to Charter and 15 other ISPs for last mile projects.
March
- Minnesota awarded $53 million to Charter, Mediacom, Midco and others to expand broadband to nearly 9,000 locations.
- Wisconsin's Public Service Commission dished out $43.2 million to AT&T, Charter, Frontier and other ISPs that will expand high-speed internet access to 16,000 homes and businesses.
- Nebraska awarded $21 million to Great Plains Communications and three other ISPs in a reverse auction.
April
- Maine awarded two grants to Consolidated Communications - worth $1.9 million and $311,000 - to expand broadband in the towns of Fayette and Wilton.
- The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority approved $204 million in grant awards to 53 projects, with Comcast, Frontier, Verizon and Windstream being among the winners.