Monica Granstaff and her family waited 12 years to get high-speed internet access to their farm near Okemah. In early September, the Oklahoma Broadband Office joined her family to witness their first fiber connection. 

The Granstaff family represents the hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans that will be connected by our grant programs, improving their lives by providing better access to education, health care and job opportunities.  

In my time as executive director, I have had countless conversations about the importance of bringing high-speed broadband to all of Oklahoma. Watching families like the Grandstaff’s receive life-changing opportunities motivates my team and me to get the best deal for our state. 

With our latest broadband expansion program, the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, the office plans to award projects in all 77 counties. Families throughout the state will have access to internet they never had before. 

The plan awards grants to connect all remaining unserved and underserved homes, businesses and community anchor institutions. Of the tentatively awarded organizations, nearly all are Oklahoma companies and cooperatives, regional companies, or Tribal nations. The partners we have for this program know Oklahomans better than anyone. 

BEAD was enacted in 2021 under the Biden Administration with a focus primarily on fiber-optic technology. However, after four years of bureaucratic obstruction not a single location was connected across the country. 

On June 6, the Trump administration updated the program guidelines by stripping out red tape, removing the fiber preference, requiring all technologies be treated equally and prioritizing cost savings. If states wanted to receive any funding, they needed to open a new application round and follow the new rules. 

The office did everything the administration mandated, and our plan is the best deal for Oklahoma.

The new BEAD application process, known as the Benefit of the Bargain round, resulted in two-thirds of locations being served by fiber-optic technology, with high-cost locations going to less expensive technologies like satellite and fixed wireless. 

Our plan is now in the hands of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which has authority to make modifications before they approve it.

But BEAD is just one piece of the broadband expansion puzzle. 

In 2024, the OBO awarded over $500 million in ARPA grants to kickstart the effort to connect every remaining unserved and underserved Oklahoman. With the help of our partnering internet service providers, the state will have 95 percent access to high-speed internet by the end of 2026. 

The Granstaff family and thousands like them are beneficiaries of those grants. 

Between ARPA and BEAD, we will close the digital divide in Oklahoma. 

As a son of rural Oklahoma, I have seen firsthand how our people have been left behind for far too long, with fewer opportunities than our urban peers. 

That ends now. 

This plan delivers for all Oklahomans, ensuring their success is not limited by their zip code. 

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Mike Sanders is the Executive Director at Oklahoma Broadband Office.